OREM — ClearPlay may have won the war, but the Hollywood movie studios won't have to pay reparations.
After nearly three years of operating beneath the ominous cloud of pending litigation, Salt Lake City-based ClearPlay Inc. — which produces filters for DVD and video tape players designed to automatically edit out objectionable elements from movies —is finally in the clear. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit Thursday brought by Hollywood film studios and the Directors Guild of America against ClearPlay.
Although Colorado district court judge Richard P. Matsch dismissed the suit in light of the Family Movie Act passed by Congress earlier this year, he declined to award ClearPlay attorney fees or costs.
"We were up against companies worth over $500 billion collectively," ClearPlay CEO Bill Aho said. "But we knew we were right. I guess sometimes Davey gets a win over Goliath."
Proving that two parties can parlay the same event into strikingly different conclusions, the plaintiffs in the now-dismissed suit also claimed victory Friday.
"The studios agree with the decision," Jonathan Zavin, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said. "We didn't think we should have to pay their attorney fees and the judge agreed with us."
Once President Bush signed the Family Movie Act into law April 27, both sides agreed to end the litigation but couldn't come to a consensus about whether ClearPlay was entitled to attorney fees and costs, Zavin said. Thus, the movie studios prevailed this week on what Zavin termed "the only issue that was before the judge."
The Family Movie Act, part of the larger Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, provides an exemption in copyright laws for companies selling movie filtering technology.
ClearPlay equipment gives people the option of watching movies in their homes with potentially objectionable material such as sex, nudity, violence, and offensive language automatically edited out. The idea of providing people the option of viewing edited versions of DVD content hatched by ClearPlay founders Lee and Matt Jarman didn't jive with Hollywood; consequently, ClearPlay was one of 15 entities targeted by motion picture studios and directors in an August 2002 lawsuit that hinged on copyright issues.
The difference between ClearPlay and other movie-editing entities such as Clean Flicks is that ClearPlay offers private individuals the option of which features to edit out of a movie while Clean Flicks alters the videos and then re-sells them in an edited format.
Matsch's decision ends a legal saga dating back to 2002.
"This is a long-awaited victory," said Aho. "It has been challenging litigation and we're happy to put it behind us and move forward."
Contributing: Sara Israelsen, Jesse Hyde
E-mail: jaskar@desnews.com