THE BATTLE EXPANDS

BY RAY RICHMOND / January 2003
DGA Magazine

On December 13, Hollywood's major studios joined the Directors Guild of America in its countersuit against a number of companies involved in the unauthorized editing and manipulation of films for rental or sale.

In their filing, the studios — Disney, DreamWorks, Fox, MGM, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros. — note that the edited films "are of lousy quality in terms of continuity and reproduction; sometimes, the dialogue is not in synch with video images" and that "use of studio trademarks on the ... films 'falsely and erroneously' suggests a connection with the studios that deceives consumers as to the source" of the edited films.

The studios are seeking an injunction to stop the sale and renting of the altered videos and to declare that the unauthorized editing infringes upon the studios' copyrights and trademarks. The studios are not seeking punitive damages, but do seek attorney fees.

On August 16, CleanFlicks pre-emptively sued the DGA and 16 well-known director members asking for a judicial determination that they had a First Amendment right to edit movies for private use. The DGA countersued on September 20 asking the court to allow the Guild to represent the interests of its membership, allow the Guild to expand the counterclaims to include other companies that engage or contribute to the practice of editing or altering videocassettes and/or DVDs in commerce, and allow the Guild to bring in the motion picture studios as necessary parties, citing their role as the copyright holders of films. These actions by the DGA set the stage for the studios joining in the battle against film alteration.

For complete background information about the issue and the lawsuits, see DGA Magazine's November 2002 issue.