Movie Clean Plays Dirty Pool, Studios Say

All of the major studios have sued a company that allegedly takes DVDs, modifies or deletes scenes and dialog that it considers objectionable, then sells the edited movies on DVD-Rs, Intellectual Property Litigation Reporter reports. The studios charge that the company, Movie Clean, is infringing their copyrights, and are seeking damages, an injunction, and destruction of the infringing goods.

The studios are clearly in the right, in my opinion, if the allegations are accurate. Creating an edited or revised version of a work - in copyright terminology, creating a derivative work - is one of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner. And taking an entire work, altering it, then selling it as a substitute for the original is scarcely fair use.