Quentin Tarantino refiles ‘Hateful Eight’ lawsuit against Gawker

You didn’t think Quentin Tarantino would give up that easily, did you?

The filmmaker has refiled his lawsuit against Gawker Media over his leaked script for the unproduced ensemble western “The Hateful Eight,” and it includes a new allegation that Gawker directly infringed his copyright by downloading the script.

The suit also maintains its previous accusation that Gawker committed contributory copyright infringement by posting third-party download links on its Defamer blog, thereby facilitating dissemination of the script.

Tarantino is seeking damages of more than $1 million and a court order preventing Gawker from using the screenplay.

U.S. District Court Judge John F. Walter had dismissed Tarantino’s original lawsuit on April 22, ruling that Tarantino had failed to prove a case of direct infringement, without which there could be no contributory claim. Walter, however, gave Tarantino and his legal team until May 1 to revise the lawsuit.

Whereas the original suit focused on linking to the script, the new suit also asserts that Gawker’s downloading and accessing the file amounted to a direct violation of Tarantino’s copyright.

Since the dispute arose in January, when Tarantino’s script leaked and Defamer posted the links, neither party has show any inclination to back down.

It remains to be seen what, if any, effect the ongoing legal battle will have on Tarantino actually making the movie, though he recently said he’s still working on the script.