Please don’t play the audio from that unfiltered version of Scarface on my Christian Minecraft server, thank you.
“Family friendly” film and TV service VidAngel has just lost a trial in regards to piracy to the tune of $62 million. The service was sued by a combination of Disney, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Bros. over copyright infringement. This is mostly due to VidAngel’s method of business; they’d take commercial films, edit out anything objectionable (violence, sex, profanity, etc.), and then sell the sanitized copy to the consumer.
VidAngel argued that they were allowed to do this under the Family Entertainment And Copyright Act. Said act is meant to allow tech companies to censor certain aspects of film and television for family consumption. That said, the 2005 act is pretty specific, and their methods don’t really coincide with it, which is likely why the trial decided against them.
Needless to say, VidAngel doesn’t have that much money, purportedly having around $2.2 million in hand at the moment. If their appeals fail, this will probably be the end of the company. And it’s a certain thing VidAngel predicted as much; the second they were aware they were being sued, they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
It’s a fairly certain bet that this is the end of VidAngel. Mostly due to the fact that there is a precedent-setting case that pretty much sinks them from the get-go. Well, so long, VidAngel; you had the name one would expect from a porn company.
Source: Engadget
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