All ClearPlay, Family Shield Technologies, and Trilogy Studios wanted to do was make technologies that let the buyer of DVD films filter out the sex, blood, and violence at will when they watch their movies. All Hollywood wants to do is stop them on copyright infringement grounds. So the three techs took the studios to federal court May 30.
The companies claim their technologies do not alter the films but only customize the way the film is viewed, according to Wired. "You don't change the movie, you just change the experience," said ClearPlay chief executive officer Bill Aho to the magazine.
That's too much for eight Hollywood studios, the Directors Guild of America, and thirteen directors including Steven Spielberg and Robert Altman, who are suing ClearPlay, Family Shield, and Trilogy. Wired reported June 3 the parties had a court conference set for that day, with the studios and directors having twenty days to respond to the three techs' motion.
Aho told the magazine the studios and directors are acting emotionally and not considering consumer choices, in a sense. "We're talking about people in their homes doing what they want to do," he told the magazine. "Directors may not like that. This is like the old joke that you can't remove the tag from the pillow. It's unreasonable for the director to think they can follow you into the home and control how you watch a movie."
It's no joke to the Directors Guild, whose spokeswoman Carol Stogsdill told Wired the studios and directors are only defending what they think are copyright and artistic violations, not to mention trying to stop the three techs from profiting by making entirely different versions of movies. "They are not just taking out a few four-letter words," she said.
