The company that sells the TVGuardian filtering device has sided with ClearPlay in its fight with the DGA over the issue of excising sex, violence and foul language from video and DVD versions of movies.
"Many parents want to watch movies with their families without being exposed to obscenity, nudity and violence," said Rick Bray, president of Principle Solutions and the inventor of TVGuardian. "I was sick and tired of bringing home movies for my family to watch and being embarrassed."
The statement was issued in the wake of ClearPlay's announcement that it was filing a countersuit Monday against leading directors, the Directors Guild of America and the major Hollywood studios. ClearPlay, which sells software that excises sex and foul language from videos and DVDs, is claiming in the action that the DGA, directors and studios have overstated their rights under copyright laws.
"We strongly support the directors' and studios' right to protect their copyrighted material," continued Bray. "Although Principle Solutions and TVGuardian are not parties in the suit, other companies with similar technologies, such as ClearPlay, are named and shouldn't be."
Bray asserted that TVGuardian and ClearPlay technologies automate the process of skipping objectionable material and muting foul language and noted that the consumer must purchase or rent the original movies. "Then they can choose to watch the movie cleaned up a little, or they can turn off our technology and watch the movie in its original form," he added.
The legal battle over sanitized versions of Hollywood movies was launched last summer when retailer CleanFlicks sued the DGA and 16 leading directors to obtain a ruling that its practice of altering films is legal. The DGA filed a countersuit alleging copyright and trademark infringement, and that action was joined last month by Hollywood studios.
Contact Dave McNary at
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