Weinstein Co. cries malpractice over "Sicko" leaks

By Gregg Goldstein

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - YouTube has removed clips of Michael Moore's U.S. health-care expose "Sicko" that appeared on the site during the weekend, two weeks before the film's June 29 opening.

A 124-minute version of "Sicko" was available on the Google Inc.-owned Web site, posted by at least two users in 14 consecutive video chunks.

The postings came on the heels of a fairly high-quality pirated version of the film that became available last week via BitTorrent file-sharing software and peer-to-peer Web sites. By early Monday, the clips had been pulled from YouTube because of copyright complaints by Lionsgate, which is distributing the film domestically for the Weinstein Co.

One version uploaded to YouTube during the weekend received 500-600 views per segment, with one of the first segments garnering nearly 1,700 views. Another version uploaded Saturday had 200-300 views per segment, with the first 10 minutes receiving more than 1,200 views.

The entire film also recently was uploaded, and then removed, from a site found on the Google Video search engine.

The Weinstein Co. is distributing the $9 million documentary through Lionsgate but handling all marketing and other costs not related to theatrical distribution.

UPLOADERS SOUGHT

A Weinstein Co. source said that the company has hired several firms that specialize in dealing with piracy and is taking "a very aggressive approach to protecting the film."