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.
And yet, you persevered. I had to laugh when I saw two more go-rounds since my last post. Someone needs to kill this thing, or at least require that people read all the posts before jumping in. I guarantee that any and all questions and comments on this case have already been made.
Like I said, I'm a masochist, I wanted to see how low the depths of ignorance go.
Well, here's another place to check!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1663134/posts
No!!!!!!!!!!
LOL
HOLLYWOOD IS EVIL AND MUST BE STOPPED AT ALL COSTS!
Hey, my nephew is in film school. (at a Catholic college no less). Evangelicals hate Catholics and people in Hollywood. He is a marked man!
Ha! He has many happy years ahead of him as a P.A.
He really wants to do slasher flicks, he loves cheesy stuff like that. Smart guy and its a great private college, he got to interview Quentin Tarantino a few months ago for a project. He geeked out on that.
Very tough business not matter what genre. Highly competitive and no clear career track.
Yeah, he knows, but he is getting a good degree and can always go to grad school.
I have a friend whose dad was lighting specialist for decades, he used to do all the Magnum PI shows, so she grew up in Hawaii.
In my young scuffling years I worked as an extra in a couple films. A hundred bucks a day plus food. Couldn't beat it.
They are always shooting films in Phoenix. We have two productions going on now, a comedy and a terrorist thriller.
This was in NYC. If you got in good with the extra casting director you could go from one film to another for months. Three thousand a month was nothing to sneeze at back then.
Ever hear of Radio Man? A homeless guy that has been showing up on film locations for years. Every director, every star, everybody knows Radio Man. He's even in a couple of movies and TV shows. You'll see him sitting on a bus holding his radio looking serene in the background. He's considered lucky.
I love it.
I hate when extras try to eat up the camera and jostle for a good shot. Usually they don't suceed, but sometimes....
Ever see Russian Ark ? 90 minute movie, filmed in one take on a mile long journey through the Hermitage museum, and there are over a thousand extras, period costumes, live music, etc.
Its a brilliant piece of work, it amazes me every time I watch.
If my feeble memory recalls correctly, the trick to being an extra was to stand next to the prettiest girl and try to pick her up between takes. Usually she was a drama student at NYU or taking acting lessons...but hope springs eternal.
Watch this, its every 80's film cliche in 6 minutes! (it starts about 10 seconds into the clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C37rCtqiIKs&search=80s
no sound on this system...
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