Jury orders VidAngel to pay millions to Hollywood studios
Jun 18, 2019, 7:13 AM
(Spenser Heaps KSL)
(Spenser Heaps KSL)
SALT LAKE CITY — There’s been a major ruling against a Utah company in a massive copyright lawsuit.
A jury in California says VidAngel should pay $62.4 million dollars in damages to Disney, Warner Brothers and Fox equalling about $75,000 per movie title.
The Provo startup would filter out the bad words, sex and violence. They argued that their business was allowed to do so under the federal Family Movie Act that allowed the filtering of “limited portions” of an authorized copy for home viewing. But the jury said the company infringed on studios’ copyrights by ripping copies of movie discs, filtering them, and then streaming them to customers.
Vidangel’s CEO released a statement saying they disagree with the ruling and will appeal, and they still want to save filtering for families.
But it is unknown if VidAngel can survive the huge fine. This case has been years in the courts, and the company is currently in the middle of bankruptcy.
