It looks like that HBO vs Game of Thrones video showdown set a precedent, because AMC has now threatened legal action against a Walking Dead fan community over spoilers related to unaired episodes of the zombie TV show.
As Torrentfreak reports, a site called The Spoiling Dead Fans like to get their hands on everything to do with the show, even if it hasn’t been spoken about or aired publicly yet.
In this case, they say they know who Negan killed at the end of the last season, something regular viewers won’t find out until the next episode actually airs.
AMC are not happy about this. In a post made to the group’s Facebook page, a member writes:
After two years, AMC finally reached out to us! But it wasn’t a request not to post any info about the Lucille Victim or any type of friendly attempt at compromise, it was a cease and desist and a threat of a lawsuit by AMC Holdings, LLC’s attorney, Dennis Wilson. They say we can’t make any type of prediction about the Lucille Victim. Their stance is that making such a prediction would be considered copyright infringement.
The threat worked. Being a community of fans, and not a commercial/news site, the operators feel that the risk of posting the spoiler isn’t worth the possible punitive action, and so won’t be sharing it.
“Please respect our decision not to put our livelihoods at risk”, one writes on Facebook. “AMC has been harassing us for four days now by contacting our homes, our family members and our employers; even posting on this page and personal social media accounts. We are fans of this show just like you and aren’t a commercial operation that makes profit. We have families and careers to think about. No spoiler will ever be worth compromising those things. If you think this makes us pussies that are bowing down to AMC then so be it.”
Torrentfreak got hold of the legal letter sent to the community, and it essentially threatens them with a copyright infringement lawsuit:
You also state that you plan to distribute this purported highly confidential information despite your knowledge that such distribution, if the information is indeed accurate, is unauthorized and will greatly damage AMC, distributors of The Walking Dead as well as Walking Dead fans awaiting the new seasons’ release who wish to watch their favorite show unspoiled.
What a world we live in. While AMC’s threats are obviously concerning legally, The Spoiling Dead Fans aren’t helping their situation by using language like this:
The truth is, we have become victims of our own success. We hold a track record for accuracy and now AMC perceives us as a threat. We can understand why. We were once just a small community, but now we are 400,000 strong among all our outlets. The TSDF Army, originally named in jest, is now very real in this little cottage industry. We are a threat because of our accuracy.
Torrentfreak has more of the letter on its site if you want to check it out.
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