Several family-friendly companies out there, including CleanFlicks and CleanFilms, have just received a mighty blow from the Man with the Gavel. Senior U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch has ruled in favor of the DGA and major movie studios, declaring that the filtering of offensive language and scenes from theatrical releases on DVD is illegal, with a capital I. This means that all companies who edit and sanitize movies before distributing them for sale and rental have to cease production.
CleanFlicks chief executive Ray Lines is not happy with the news, and shared his thoughts with the Associated Press. "We're disappointed. This is a typical case of David vs. Goliath, but in this case, Hollywood rewrote the ending. We're going to continue to fight." President of the Director’s Guild of America, Michael Apted, feels differently. "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.
I’m going to have to side with Apted on this one. It’s a major case of copyright infringement to tweak people’s products without their consent. If a family wants to rent something PC and PG, and then they can pick up a copy of Curious George and call it a day. There is no need to rent something like 40 Year-Old Virgin with essentially all the good (read: raunchy) stuff cut out.
Justice, ain't it a bitch.
