When the Motion Picture Association of America filed a lawsuit against file-sharing website Hotfile earlier this year, it would’ve expected a defense. What it might not have expected was that the defense would claim that movie studios are using anti-piracy tools to remove content that they don’t even own.
According to papers filed by Hotfile, Warner Bros. entertainment has been using an anti-piracy tool available on Hotfile’s website to take down more than just its own copyrighted material; instead, Hotfile alleges that it “used an antipiracy tool provided by Hotfile at Warner’s request to improperly remove material for which Warner did not own a copyright, and that Warner removed some material without ever verifying the contents of what it was deleting.”
Neither the MPAA nor Warner Bros. have responded to the claim. The lawsuit is currently in the discovery process.
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Graeme McMillan is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @Graemem or on Facebook at Facebook/Graeme.McMillan. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.