To no one’s surprise, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” broke box office records around the country and around the world over the weekend. As perhaps the most anticipated film of the year, its release has dominated both print and online media. Some websites are treading very carefully, aiming not to spoil any content for readers who have not yet seen the film. It’s an admirable goal–but what’s the legal side of the spoiler debate?

In an interview with Buzzfeed UK, Harrison Ford asked moviegoers not to ruin the film for others, but it is difficult for websites to avoid publishing content on a film that is dominating online discussions. During a week when the question on everyone’s lips is not if you will be seeing “Star Wars,” but when–what else would entertainment bloggers be writing about?

For a film that has already made profits off of its opening weekend, spoilers are not a threat to commercial success. Yet for films with smaller budgets, the exposition of a plot could be a financial death sentence. Why go see the film if its summary is available online? Websites like Wikipedia and IMDB often post plot summaries of films quickly after they are released, and many entertainment websites post articles about films before they are released in theaters that discuss major plot points under the heading “spoiler alert.”

I personally would not want to pay admission for a film I already knew the plot of. In an era where films are freely available for illegal download or are released directly to a streaming service, fewer young people set time and money aside to go to the movie theater. When the plot of a major film is revealed online, paying admission price seems foolish. A film such as “Star Wars,” with plenty of die hard fans who are so loyal to the franchise that they prefer to see it in theaters, has no trouble breaking even, but films with smaller budgets and a less-publicized release may not attract such dedicated viewers. That being said, film studios have not launched legal action against bloggers who reveal the plot of their films in the same way they do against people who illegally film or download their films. Five separate Hollywood studios have filed for damages against Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom, who is currently facing extradition to the United States, but no studio has brought a case against an online platform for “spoilers.”

Spoilers present an interesting copyright issue for web sources. Filming a scene from a movie in the theater and uploading it would be considered piracy (and could be removed from a content sharing website by the host), but can a written description of the scene be treated the same way? What is the line between writing a review and revealing a pivotal plot point? There is no set rule for when a film’s plot is considered part of the public domain, or when a spoiler becomes common knowledge. How can copyright law ever regulate written descriptions of a film if there is no clear limit on how much a writer is allowed to reveal?

Piracy has a flexible definition that is constantly adapting and expanding as the worldwide web incorporates more forms of media, but I doubt it will ever encompass movie reviews. At the end of the day, movie reviewers are tasked with describing a film and it is perfectly within their rights to do so in as much detail as they want. Hordes of Star Wars fans may have cut themselves off from their favorite websites to avoid spoilers this week, but that hasn’t made a significant dent in internet traffic on major entertainment websites. Spoilers are inconvenient and frustrating, but they are ultimately an inescapable part of internet culture, embedded in the Web, and probably won’t face any legal action anytime soon.

Jillian Sequeira

Jillian Sequeira was a member of the College of William and Mary Class of 2016, with a double major in Government and Italian. When she’s not blogging, she’s photographing graffiti around the world and worshiping at the altar of Elon Musk and all things Tesla. Contact Jillian at Staff@LawStreetMedia.com

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