Variety on VidAngel Firing Back at Studio Attempts to Shut It Down

Variety‘s Ted Johnson recently wrote about Baker Marquart client VidAngel’s formal response to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court by Disney, LucasFilm, Twentieth Century Fox and WarnerBros. VidAngel argues that its movie filtering service is specifically authorized by the Family Movie Act. VidAngel also argues that its service is in the public interest, which is supported with numerous declartions from parents’ organizations and religious groups, including the Parents Television Council, the Media Research Center, the Traditional Values Coalition, American Family Assn., and Focus on the Family. Oral argument for the the studio’s motion for preliminary injunction is scheduled for Oct. 31.

From the Variety Article:

VidAngel contends that the service is legal following the passage of the Family Home Movie Act of 2005.

The law “authorizes for-profit companies to stream lawfully purchased movies for home viewing with objectionable content filtered out pursuant to each customer’s individual choice,” VidAngel said in a filing opposing the preliminary injunction.

VidAngel also noted that Disney “vigorously opposed” the Family Home Movie Act, but claims that the studio is trying to “neutralize” an act of Congress.

“Without apparent irony, Disney insists that VidAngel’s DVD-based business model is illegal, when it is Disney’s misconduct that has effectively made that model the only way in which FMA-authorized filtering can be meaningfully made to American families,” VidAngel says in its brief.

Read the full article here.