Hollywood Shuts Down Another 'Family Friendly' DVD Editing Operation

from the can't-have-family-friendly-entertainment dept

For years, Hollywood has been quite upset about a few operations that seek to take Hollywood movies and edit them in a way that makes them more "family friendly." Personally, I see no need for such a service, but some folks apparently like to self-censor their own viewing habits. I still haven't quite figured out why the studios are so upset about this, as it does introduce their films (if in edited form) to a wider audience, and opens up a new market to them. A few years back, they were able to shut down Cleanflix, who would buy legal copies of movies, edit them and pass them along. Effectively, this ruling said you couldn't even edit content you legally purchased for your own viewing. They've also tried to shut down systems that automatically cut out "non-family friendly" content from movies, but haven't had as much success.

So I guess it's no surprise that when a new operation popped up that appeared to do something similar to Cleanflicks, Hollywood quickly sued, and that company, Family Edited DVDs, has been shut down after agreeing to pay $274,000 to the studios. Once again, while this may be technically infringing, it seems pretty shortsighted to go after these companies who are simply expanding the market for your works.

Filed Under: edits, family-friendly, hollywood, movies