The Controversy over Movie Editing
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Parents may wonder if movie editing, even in the privacy of their own homes is legal, since the 2006 ruling in the civil suit that pitted CleanFlicks and three other defendants against big Hollywood movie studios. Understanding the controversy over movie editing will help clarify the rights of parents to edit certain content from the movies and television programming that their children watch.
Businesses Offer Edited Movies
The controversy began in 1998 when a movie theatre in Utah cutout two scenes in Titanic that contained some nudity and sexual content. Later, the owners of a Utah video store edited the same scenes and rented the altered videos to their customers. In both cases, Paramount pictures recalled the movie from the theatre and video store.
After these two controversies, entrepreneurs realized there was a huge market of like-minded people, not only in Utah, but also around the country who would welcome edited family-friendly versions of their favorite movies as well as new releases.
In June 2000, CleanFlicks began offering edited movies on VHS tapes and DVDs. CleanFlicks' editing practices consisted of muted dialog, fogged images and spliced scenes. The result was an edited copy of the original movie.
Other companies followed CleanFlicks example and opened stores of their own. Family Flix, Clean Films and Play It Clean began selling edited movies. Movie studios soon became aware of these businesses and demanded that they stop their editing practices. Meanwhile, due to the controversy, CleanFlicks and the other companies earned national media attention.
Hollywood Files Civil Suit
Business was good and the future looked promising for CleanFlicks, Family Flix, Clean Films and Pay It Clean until all four companies became defendants in a civil suit filed by several major motion picture studios including Time Warner Entertainment, Disney and Universal Studios. In addition, several prominent directors joined the suit like Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Robert Redford.
The civil suit argued that CleanFlicks and the other defendants violated copyright law because they sold unauthorized copies of movies. Section 106(3) of the Copyright Act gives the owner of a copyrighted work the exclusive right to make and distribute copies.
CleanFlicks argued that their editing practices fell under the transformative clause of the ”fair use” exemption of the Copyright Act. Exemption under this clause states that a copyrighted work must be altered to the point that it becomes unique compared to the original. CleanFlicks also argued that they were protected under the First Amendment because their editing practices made a significant social statement about the overabundance of profanity, violence and sexual content in movies.
The Court Decision
On July 6, 2006, the court decided against CleanFlicks, Family Flix, Clean Films and Play It Clean. In the ruling, the judge pointed out that the transformative clause applies to the addition of new material to a copyrighted work, which then makes the work unique and separate from the original. He also pointed out that CleanFlicks was violating an important part of the ”fair use” exemption, which states that the copyrighted material in question can only be used for nonprofit and educational purposes.
CleanFlicks immediately appealed the ruling, but essentially they and the other three defendants were out of business. They were required to turn over all edited movies to their respective movie studios within five days.
New Filtering Technology
Today, movie editing hasn’t disappeared; it has just taken on a different appearance. Several editing products are available that edits dialog and scenes without violating the Copyright Act. This new technology, which works with DVDs, uses software to create filters assigned to specific scenes and dialog. The filters are separate from the movie and edits are based on specific settings as the DVD plays.
This filtering technology does not make copies nor permanently alters the DVD. The filter is reapplied each time a movie is played. This technology falls under the protection of the Family Movie Act, which allows the owners of multimedia products to alter their content for private use.
Consumers can also edit movies on PCs with editing software like Windows Movie Maker. Movies edited with this type of software will result in copies of the original, but as long as they are not resold or otherwise distributed, it is legal under the Family Movie Act.
Other editing technology only filters out dialog from DVDs, VHS tapes and television. These products use the closed-captioning signal to detect offensive dialog and mutes it based on a particular setting.
Finally, don’t forget the V-chip, which is included in all television sets that are 13 inches or larger and manufactured after January 1, 2000. This technology blocks access to certain channels and television shows based on the television rating system. For older television sets, consumers can contact the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to obtain a V-chip box.
Family-friendly movie editing did not disappear in 2006, nor did the controversy. There are still people vehemently opposed to any type of editing and there are people who feel just as strongly about editing whatever they feel is inappropriate for their family. Consumers can rest easy because there are still plenty of choices for parents to find family-friendly movies they can enjoy with their kids.
References
(11/01/06). Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau. Retrieved March 5, 2007, from Federal Communications Commission Web site: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/vchip.html
(June 17, 2004). The Family Movie Act. Retrieved March 5, 2007, from U.S. Copyright Office Web site: http://www.copyright.gov/docs/regstat061704.html
The United States District Court for the District of Colorado. (July, 1 2006). Case 1:02-cv-01662-RPM (Document 309). http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/Huntsman_v_Soderbergh/CleanFlicksDistCtOpinion.pdf
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