Clean Flicks of Colorado, LLC v. Steven Soderbergh, et al.

Rule of Law:

Creating and distributing fixed, edited copies of copyrighted motion pictures without the copyright holder's permission constitutes copyright infringement of the rights of reproduction and distribution, and does not qualify as a fair use even if the edits are intended to make the work more appealing to a particular audience.

Facts:

• The Motion Picture Studios hold valid copyrights for numerous motion pictures they distribute to the public on DVDs and VHS tapes.
• CleanFlicks and Family Flix obtained authorized copies of the Studios' movies.
• They made a complete digital copy of each movie onto a computer, bypassing any copy-protection technology.
• Using software, CleanFlicks and Family Flix edited the movies to delete content they deemed objectionable, such as 'sex, nudity, profanity and gory violence.'
• From these edited digital files, they created a new master copy and used it to produce new, physically altered copies on recordable DVDs (DVD-Rs).
• CleanFlicks, Family Flix, and distributors CleanFilms and Play It Clean sold and rented these edited DVD-Rs to the public for commercial gain.
• The editing companies often required customers to purchase an authorized, unedited copy of the movie along with the edited version or maintained a 'one-to-one' inventory ratio of original to edited copies.

Procedural Posture:

• After a period of complex litigation involving multiple claims and parties, the Motion Picture Studios ('Studios') filed counterclaims for copyright infringement against several companies, including CleanFlicks, Family Flix, CleanFilms, and Play It Clean ('Mechanical Editing Parties').
• The case was heard in the U.S. District Court.
• The Studios filed a motion for partial summary judgment on their copyright infringement counterclaims, requesting an injunction to stop the Mechanical Editing Parties' activities.
• The U.S. District Court considered the Studios' motion for partial summary judgment.