Utah Movie-Filtering Company Ordered by Jury to Pay $62M to Studios

June 20, 2019

A Utah-based movie-filtering company has been ordered to pay more than $62 million to Disney and other Hollywood studios.

A California jury decided the damages this week against the company VidAngel, which had ripped the movies from DVDs and then streamed them for $1 per view with content like violence, nudity or strong language filtered out.

VidAngel CEO Neal Harmon says in a statement that the company plans to appeal, and the finding has “not lessened our resolve to save filtering for families one iota.”

They had argued that its business was protected by the Family Movie Act and the First Amendment. U.S. District Court Judge Andre Birotte Jr. disagreed, and decided in favor of Disney, 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm, Warner Bros.

VidAngel has already filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

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Latest Comments

  • June 24, 2019 at 9:44 am
    Fair Playing Field says:
    No need to search for anything. Unlicensed distribution is unlicensed distribution. If the studios want the product presented as they intended it to be, that's their call. If ... read more
  • June 21, 2019 at 11:50 am
    Mark Ambrose says:
    They spent 5 years trying to do that. The movie companies said no you can't to 4 different ways. They did it this way as the only way they could and then if they can't do it t... read more
  • June 21, 2019 at 9:56 am
    Fair Playing Field says:
    I'm sure the studios would have no problem with VidAngel charging for streaming filtered content as long as VidAngel (in best Sam Kinison voice) LICENSED THE CONTENT IN THE FI... read more

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