(CNN) — A lawsuit filed by Academy Award winning
screenwriter and celebrated director Quentin Tarantino against the Gawker
website for linking to a script for a future movie project was dismissed
Tuesday by a federal judge.
In January, Gawker posted links to the script for “The
Hateful Eight,” an unproduced Western. Tarantino failed to prove that was an
act of direct copyright infringement, said Judge John F. Walter of the Central
District of California.
The judge said he would allow Tarantino’s attorney to amend
arguments and refile the complaint by May 1.
Although Gawker did not post the script to its own site,
Tarantino’s attorney charged the script would not have been widely accessible
if Gawker had not linked to it.
Gawker turned down repeated requests to remove links to
download the script, Tarantino’s complaint charged.
Tarantino told the gossip site Deadline that he had given
the script to only six people, including actors Michael Madsen, best known as
the killer in “Reservoir Dogs,” as well as Bruce Dern and Tim Roth. “Reservoir
Dogs” was Roth’s breakthrough film.
Somehow, the script leaked. It was posted through a site
that lets users anonymously upload and download files.
CNN’s attempts to reach Tarantino for comment on Tuesday
were unsuccessful. Gawker didn’t mention the decision on its website.
According to CNN affiliate KTLA, Tarantino held a three-hour
reading of the script over the weekend and told audience members he was working
on changes to it. Although Tarantino had spoken of shelving the project when
the links to the script were posted, he said making the film is still possible.