‘Cleaned-up’ Movies Infringe On Copyrights

Motion picture studios can prevent companies from selling “cleaned-up” versions of motion pictures since such editing infringes on the studios’ copyrights.

In its ruling, the Colorado District Court rejected establishing a policy to allow such editing to provide “more socially acceptable alternatives to enable families to view the films together, without exposing children to the presumed harmful effects emanating from the objectionable content.” The court said “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 case involved several companies that purchase VHS videocassettes and DVDs of motion pictures, make a copy of each movie, and alter it by deleting “sex, nudity, profanity and gory violence.” The altered copies are then sold.

For each copy sold, the companies purchase a VHS or DVD. In order to edit a DVD, the companies must remove the studio’s encryption. The companies argued that the studios lost no money since there is a one-for-one ratio between the edited copy and the original.

The court did not find this argument persuasive: “The argument has superficial appeal but ignores the intrinsic value of the right to control the content of copyrighted work which is the essence of the law of copyright. Whether these films should be edited in a manner that would make them acceptable to more of the public playing them on DVD in a home environment is more than merely a matter of marketing; it is a question of what audience the copyright owner wants to reach.”

The companies also argued that enjoining them from making copies would put them out of business. The court found that “the presumed destruction of the counterclaim defendants’ business is not a justification for denying these copyright holders-the Studios-the right to control the reproduction and distribution of the protected work in their [sic] original form.”

The court enjoined the companies from further production, sale and renting of the edited films and required the companies to deliver to the studios all copies in their possession for destruction.

Clean Flicks of Colorado et al. v. Steven Soderbergh, Robert Altman et al., U.S. District Court Colorado, No. 02 CV 01662, issued July 6, 2006.