Sony Hacking Lawsuits, Part I: Can Sony sue the media for damages?

Last month, hackers infiltrated Sony Pictures purportedly secure network and released the data to the public, including employees’ personal data, unreleased movies and scripts, and unflattering emails from high level executives.

A White House official suggested Pyongyang admit its guilt in the Sony hack and pay damages to the company, stating “if the North Korean government wants to help, they can admit their culpability and compensate Sony for the damages this attack caused.”

What is more likely to happen than North Korea offering to compensate Sony, is that the company may file lawsuits in an attempt to reclaim some of the economic damage they have suffered due to the leak. David Boies, an attorney representing Sony, sent legal threats to media outlets stating that making the stolen information publicly available will be met with Sony suing for damages.

How Sony would get around the First Amendment to sue the media for publishing the information remains to be seen, but many attorneys are reviewing Bartnicki v. Vopper for clues. The case supports the defense of the media, and suggests they are not culpable as long as the media was not involved in the hack itself. Sony, however, could argue that the ruling was made specifically narrow, not including situations in which the media publishes “truly private matters.”

What damages has Sony suffered as a result of the hack? 

One forecaster predicts that Sony would have earned as much as $120 million in box office revenue and tens of millions in marketing costs from the film that has been pulled as a result of the hack, ‘The Interview.’

An entertainment attorney and law professor, Jonathan Handel, believes Sony could potentially face tens of millions of dollars in economic damages, related to a class action lawsuit filed by former employees who claim Sony did not take reasonable steps to protect their private data. He also mentions that the hack will have a negative impact on public perception and the brand, adding that “this doesn’t look good for Sony, which after all is a technology company.”

Cybersecurity lawyer Steven S. Rubin, partner with Moritt Hock & Hamroff mentions that there may be additional lawsuits on the horizon for Sony, from actors, producers and directors who may wish to end their business with the studio.