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EFF Supporting Home DVD Editing
cheesedog writes "The Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed a brief in federal court in support of companies that offer software to edit violence or sex from a user's DVD. The full story can be found in this article from the Salt Lake Tribune."
Group Supports Home-Viewer Editing of DVD Movies
By Vince Horiuchi
The Salt Lake Tribune
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EEF), a technology and cyberspace civil liberties group, filed a federal court brief Wednesday in support of companies that make software to edit violent or sexual scenes from DVD films.
The friend of the court brief, filed in U.S. District Court in Colorado as part of a lawsuit pitting companies that censor videos against Hollywood studios and directors, argues that computer video players produced by such companies as Trilogy Studios in Sandy and ClearPlay in Salt Lake City do not infringe on the rights of the movie makers.
Hollywood and the editing companies are at odds over whether movie lovers can rent, buy or watch videos that have been edited for objectionable content. Last year, CleanFlicks of Colorado, once a franchise of CleanFlicks in Pleasant Grove, filed a federal lawsuit asking a judge to rule that their business of renting and selling edited movies is legal.
Hollywood studios and some big-name movie directors filed a counterclaim, arguing the companies violate copyright as well as trademark laws. Moviemakers claim CleanFlicks and other similar companies sell and rent films that have been changed without filmmakers' consent. "Saving Private Ryan," for example, could be sold as a Steven Spielberg movie although he did not approve the edits.
But EFF argues that companies that create software to edit out "filth" in DVDs are different from CleanFlicks because the product doesn't actually alter the DVD. As the DVD plays in a home computer, the program skips violent or sexual scenes.
"Consumers are being empowered to use technology to customize the way they view something in the privacy of their own home, and this makes Hollywood nervous," said Jason Schultz, the EFF attorney who filed the brief.
Schultz argues that companies like ClearPlay and Trilogy do not infringe on movie copyright because those laws or restrictions only apply to public performances or involve "derivative works," in which the movies are drastically changed.
"All we're asking the court to do is just look at what Congress has actually given the movie studios -- what rights they actually have -- and not the rights they wish they have," Schultz said.
The Director's Guild of America, which represents the Hollywood filmmakers, has not seen the brief and declined to comment Wednesday.
Both parties are currently gathering more evidence in the case.
But where is the software to *add* sex and violence to my movies where I don't feel there's enough?
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's just that yours is stupid.
What if no copyright material were redistributed?
Suppose only an edit list were distributed. The edit list would tell your DVD/Tivo/Freevo/Movix/etc. what parts to skip or play.
Now you could skip directly to the commercials without having to watch the show. You can do this already manually. But I'm just suggesting that we standardize technology to make it easy to watch only the commercials by use of an edit list.
Now suppose the edit list were available over the net very shortly after a tv broadcast? All it is is a list of numbers. What could be wrong with that?
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
What if no copyright material were ever copied?
What if they just sold an "edit list" that your DVD player / Tivo / Freevo / Movix could use to play only the parts that you don't want to see?
Now there would be no copyright issue. Nobody is selling an edited movie claiming it is a "Steven Spielberg" movie. All of these claims just disappear.
What if they also rent special DVD players that can accept the edit list. (Maybe edit list is a little itty-bitty Multi Media Card that plugs into the side of the player.)
How would this be any different than you manually fast forwarding to the parts you don't wish to see? How would this be different than me recommending to you which parts you watch? Aren't I free to make such recommendations? Aren't you free to accept or reject such recommendations? What if those recommendations were provided in the form of a text file "edit list" that your DVD player understood?
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.