PIPCU Arrests Two Men Suspected of Stealing and Uploading The Expendables 3

A high-quality copy of The Expendables 3 became available online on July 25, despite the U.S. premiere set for August 15, according the BBC. The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU), the U.K.'s anti-piracy police, have arrested two men, aged 36 and 33, for stealing the film from Lionsgate Films' cloud-based system and subsequently uploading it to the Internet. The company claimed spread of the copy cost them millions just in the U.K. This case is viewed as "a litmus test for measuring the impact of piracy," considering the film was short about $10 million, according to the projected earnings.

Head of Pipcu, Det Ch Insp Danny Medlycott said of the action: "Today's operation shows you the significant impact intellectual property crime has on our creative industries, with millions of pounds being lost as a result of criminal actions.

Research in 2011 from Carnegie Mellon University suggested that when a film is pirated prior to its release it loses up to 20% of its potential revenue. 

It is astounding how much revenue The Expendables 3 theoretically lost, especially when looking at X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which seemed to be unaffected by the release of its unfinished copy. The weird part about the situation is that these two men in their mid-30s who live in separate parts of the U.K. hacked into Lionsgate Films' cloud and stole the entire, completed film and then released it onto the Internet, free of charge. Despite the unusual circumstances of the arrested couple, PIPCU seems to be doing well since it received £3 million from the Intellectual Property Office to fund itself until 2017.

Source:

BBC News - Suspects behind Expendables 3 leak arrested in UK. (2014, November 25). Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30192568