Hatch gives film filterers a warning

WASHINGTON — One Utah company that developed technology to filter objectionable language, sex scenes and violence from movies is breathing easier after the House on Tuesday passed the Family Movie Act.

But for all the other companies that use editing to clean up films, and a lot of them are based in Utah, "I'd say they had better be careful," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the Senate sponsor of the legislation that now goes to President Bush for his signature.

"Copyright is very important, and we cannot just run over it," Hatch said. "It is an extremely important matter in this country. It affects everything: software, literature, books, music, movies, games, just about everything to do with in- tellectual property."

Hatch, a songwriter, said he has no problems with the technology developed by Salt Lake-based ClearPlay, which does not alter the original movie. Instead, the company has a technology installed in DVD players that is tailored to each movie and causes the player to skip over objectionable parts or mute bad language.

Hatch strongly believes companies like ClearPlay need the certainty of knowing that what they are doing is legal.

"People ought to have that ability, as long as they are not physically changing the movie," he said.

The movie industry, which has filed a lawsuit against ClearPlay and seven other companies that sanitize movies, has a different perspective on the editing services, although the industry begrudgingly did not oppose the legislation.

There were several other elements to the legislation the industry wanted, including tougher penalties on illegal piracy on the Internet and making it a crime to record movies with hand-held cameras inside movie theaters.

The producers and directors are not likely to give up their fight to maintain their artistic creations the way they intended, and Hatch said he doesn't blame them for trying.

But truth is, he added, "Hollywood has become a cesspool, and some are making it more of a cesspool. We are better off with this kind of legislation."

Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, and a House co-sponsor of identical legislation in years past, said parents have every right to skip over or mute movie content they find objectionable.

"This legislation will allow parents to have the final say in what their children watch while in the privacy of their own home," Cannon said Tuesday during the House floor debate. "We should have the option to protect our children from the sex, violence and profanity found in many of the movies produced in Hollywood today."

---

E-mail: spang@desnews.com