Elite US litigation firm Boies Schiller & Flexner has been instructed by Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) to send warning letters to US news outlets as the studio seeks to limit the damage caused by a computer hack of its internal systems last month.

David Boies (pictured), the firm's high-profile founder, chairman has sent letters to general counsel at the New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, technology website Re/code and Gawker, stating that the company does not consent to any media outlet's "possession, review, copying, dissemination, publication, uploading, downloading, or making any use of [stolen information]".

The letter also requests the media groups to destroy any material stolen in the hack, and sets out SPE's position that it will hold the whichever title disseminates the information gained from the hack liable for any damage or loss caused by publication.

A group calling itself Guardians of Peace claimed responsibility for the hack last week, in which script details, salary data and private email correspondence were targeted, ostensibly in response to the upcoming release of Sony's new film 'The Interview', which features an assassination plot on North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un

Boies Schiller declined to comment on the nature of its mandate, while SPE could not be reached for comment. It is unclear how many other lawyers at the firm are part of Boies' team, or whether Sony has drafted in additional law firms to work on the matter.

At the time of writing, there were no reports of UK publications being sent the Boies Schiller letter.

Boies, who has been chairman since 1997, has a past client roster that includes American Express, Apple and, most recently, former AIG chief executive Hank Greenberg in a case against the US government over the terms of the insurer's financial crisis bailout.

After acting on a number of Libor-related class actions for Barclays in the US, Boies and managing partner Jonathan Schiller helped the firm win a spot on the bank's core advisory panel earlier this year.