Posted on 07/08/2006 9:24:52 PM PDT by BenLurkin
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Sanitizing movies on DVD or VHS tape violates federal copyright laws, and several companies that scrub films must turn over their inventory to Hollywood studios, an appeals judge ruled.
Editing movies to delete objectionable language, sex and violence is an "illegitimate business" that hurts Hollywood studios and directors who own the movie rights, said U.S. District Judge Richard P. Matsch in a decision released Thursday in Denver.
"Their (studios and directors) objective ... is to stop the infringement because of its irreparable injury to the creative artistic expression in the copyrighted movies," the judge wrote. "There is a public interest in providing such protection."
Matsch ordered the companies named in the suit, including CleanFlicks, Play It Clean Video and CleanFilms, to stop "producing, manufacturing, creating" and renting edited movies. The businesses also must turn over their inventory to the movie studios within five days of the ruling.
"We're disappointed," CleanFlicks chief executive Ray Lines said. "This is a typical case of David vs. Goliath, but in this case, Hollywood rewrote the ending. We're going to continue to fight."
CleanFlicks produces and distributes sanitized copies of Hollywood films on DVD by burning edited versions of movies onto blank discs. The scrubbed films are sold over the Internet and to video stores.
As many as 90 video stores nationwide -- about half of them in Utah -- purchase movies from CleanFlicks, Lines said. It's unclear how the ruling may effect those stores.
The controversy began in 1998 when the owners of Sunrise Family Video began deleting scenes from "Titanic" that showed a naked Kate Winselt.
The scrubbing caused an uproar in Hollywood, resulting in several lawsuits and countersuits.
Directors can feel vindicated by the ruling, said Michael Apted, president of the Director's Guild of America.
"Audiences can now be assured that the films they buy or rent are the vision of the filmmakers who made them and not the arbitrary choices of a third-party editor," he said.
You can't make copies for re-sale unless you obtain the rights. You can't make edits unless you obtain additional rights.
Films are cleaned up all the time for airplanes, television and foreign markets. The terms of the edits and distribution are clearly spelled out in the contracts.
Your argument about emotion applies at least as well to murder as it does to modification of copyright law.
You claimed they wanted the original to vanish. That was the falsehood. No, they only did not wish to be agents in passing on certain elements of it to their own clientele.
One judge's opinion. One.
I like Medved, but he can be very wrong at times.
I was writing about folks who object to the more racey elements of pop culture.
HOLLYWOOD IS TO BLAME FOR $600 SLACKS, $1,000 SUNGLASSES AND IMPOSSIBLE TO ACHIEVE, YET HEAVILY ADVERTISED, SEXUAL POSITIONS!
Hollywood killed my sister, and led to the end of Space Snack Sticks.
Its a deep conspiracy!
All these people bleating about how they neeeeeeeeed someone to protect their virgin ears and eyes, but they won't take their own step to not watch what might offend them.
It passed silly about 9 hours ago, its an absurdist dada painting at this point.
I believe that if some of these folks ever went to Hollywood and met some of the people who worked in the film industry, they'd be surprised. That said,
HOLLYWOOD IS RESPONSIBLE FOR FRANK GEHRY!
I know for a fact that Ed McMahon is the Anti-christ.
And Ted McGinley.
Very funny, I had to Google Ted McGinley.
As I stated previous, Hollywood is really the last acceptable bastion of class warfare. The perception being that Hollywood types do very little work for outrageous amounts of money.
Ted McGinley is the official actor that causes shows to jump the shark.
Ed McMahon is just evil
Ring the bells and bring on the dark ages, but instead of burning books and Prostentants lets burn useless lascivious language out of movies and depraved writers.
The writers are in Hollywood, they're already in hell.
I'm no good with actors names, etc. Recently saw "the Scottish Play" with Liev Schreiber and had to google the name...oh yeah, the guy from Sum of All Fears...
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
How do copyright laws factor into "open borders, Hate america first, immigration" laws or perverts? They don't, you are rambling and making a fool of yourself.
Bible isn't copyrighted, moot point.
Germane joke....lame, not funny in the least.
Nambla, et al, just more rambling on your part.
And I assume you were trying to be witty about burning books, but don't quit your day job, humor isn't your gig.
I'm gonna fly up to LA and do a one day dead celebrity grave visit, could be fun in an odd way. One tiny little cemetary off of Wilshire and the 405 has all the good ones.
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