It appears to be the final chapter in an interesting (if more-than-occasionally laughable) effort to produce family-friendly versions of movies out of, well, the Normal Stuff Hollywood Produces. A federal judge in Denver has ruled that, no, you can’t take a DVD, edit out the naughty bits, and sell it
to people who want to see the bowdlerized version.
In an order signed Thursday, U.S. District Judge Richard P. Matsch ordered CleanFlicks, of Colorado; Family Flix, of Arizona; and Play it Clean Video, of Utah, to stop producing the films edited to remove profanity, sex and violence.
[…] “The accused parties make much of their public policy argument and have submitted many communications from viewers expressing their appreciation for the opportunity to view movies in the setting of the family home without concern for any harmful effects on their children,” Matsch wrote.
“This argument is inconsequential to copyright law and is addressed in the wrong forum. This court is not free to determine the social value of copyrighted works. What is protected are the creator’s rights to protect its creation in the form in which it was created.”
The judge noted that the Family Movie Act of 2005 permits individuals to edit films to remove objectionable content in their own homes, but lawmakers didn’t approve the sale of edited copies of films.
In some ways, the Real World has gone past the legal wrangling, though. CleanFlicks — one of the biggest players in the market — went out of business in 2002, during the course of the law suit, because, well, not enough people were buying their expurgated versions to make it worthwhile.
Next up will be scripts that those of delicate sensibility can download, and use to run movies on their computer. Insert DVD, run script, and automatically skip the nasty parts. Sort of an ‘auto fast-forward’. I can’t imagine a legal issue there, though it would be just as silly.
I suspect the problem will come with DRM on the actual discs themselves. Any software that would let you run an expurgated version of the movie (which is a great idea, for those who want such a thing) would also presumably let you PIRATE THEIR MOVIES AND SELL THEM FOR ZILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND HURT THE SHAREHOLDERS AND USHER IN THE END OF CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT!!!!!!!
Les has more on the story. And, from what I heard on NPR yesterday afternoon and this morning, there are indeed plans to appeal the ruling.
Interestingly, from what Les says, there are indeed (as DOF hints at) DVD software programs to bleep out/silhouette out offensive bits.
Hmm…
How is this different from TV stations snipping the naughty bits, or blurring the images, when they air R-rated movies? Are they specifically granted license to do so?
Yes, they are. And, contractually, there are all sorts of agreements between the studio, and, more rarely, some of the talent of behind the movie (think Spielberg) and what sorts of cuts can be made.