AMERICAN FORK, Utah — A battle between a small businessman and the
movie industry over morality, copyrights, and property rights began in a
rural Mormon community with the release of the “Titanic” video tape. A
small video rental store has begun cutting offensive scenes from the
movie as a service to customers and Paramount Pictures is not happy.
People who are offended by portions of the newly released “Titanic”
video are taking it to Don Biesinger, owner of Sunrise Family Video for
editing. Biesinger believes he has the legal right to alter the videos
for customers who pay him $5 for the service. Paramount
Pictures disagrees.
“As long as people own the movie, they can do anything they would
like with it,” said Biesinger. “We do not even sell the movie here in
the store.”
Biesinger says his attorney advised him that it is legal for owners
of the “Titanic” video to pay him to edit the video according to their
instructions, as long as they purchase the video at a different store.
Biesinger is not editing the videos first and then selling them.
“Paramount Pictures’ position is that any unauthorized alteration of
its film violates its rights under copyright trademark and other laws.
In this case, with respect to Titanic, it is also a violation of the
rights of Twentieth Century Fox and Lightstorm Entertainment,
and at this point we will take all necessary and appropriate action to
protect our interests,” said Paramount spokeswoman Dorritt Ragosine.
Biesinger said he is not concerned about the threat of legal action
by a major corporation against his very small, independent business.
“Number one is, how can we be infringing on their copyright law when
we are not dealing with their product? We are dealing with people’s
personal, private videos. It’s not over copyrights, it’s over property
rights,” said Biesinger.
Anyone can purchase a movie on video tape, take it home, and then cut
it up any way they would like for private use in their home. Most people
do not have the knowledge, skills, and equipment to tackle such an
editing job, so Biesinger provides that service for
them. He was quite proud of the quality of his work, saying he’s been
repairing broken videos for years and had a great deal of experience.
The area surrounding American Fork is jokingly referred to by locals
as “Happy Valley” because of the clean living standards of the people
who live there. Estimates show that nearly everyone in “Happy Valley”
belongs to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known for
fundamental beliefs and high moral standards.
Asked to respond to Biesinger’s contention that he is not violating
any laws, Ragosine said she was not prepared to discuss the law and
could not comment further.
“A lot of people wanted the ‘Titanic’ but they were afraid to buy it
and take it home in its existing form,” explained Biesinger. “Our
customers kept saying, ‘are you going to get it,’ and we said we didn’t
know. Then they’d say, ‘gee I wish you could cut out those
two scenes.’ So what we did is we went to our attorneys and they said,
‘stay away from renting or selling it or the studios are going to nail
you.’
“So we have decided not to sell it or rent it, but just to edit it.
Hopefully, in the future, people will remember what we’ve done and come
back and rent from us.”
Just one day after the national release of the Academy Award-winning
film, over 200 copies have been received by Biesinger for editing.
“We’ve been advised by our church leaders not to watch R-rated movies
at all, and to use discretion about watching other films which may
involve sex, violence, and vulgar language,” explained one customer, a
mother with three children in tow. “There are many movies we’ve wanted
to see, but until now we couldn’t.”
This is not the first film that Sunrise Family Video customers have
brought in for editing.
“We have been doing it for friends and customers. We have not done it
on a big scale, but if the demand is here, which it apparently is, we
will continue to do it,” said Biesinger without reservation. He is not
concerned about the big movie studios challenging him
legally.
Tapes brought in for editing must be purchased elsewhere. It takes
about 30 minutes to physically cut and splice the offending sections of
“Titanic.” The changes typically eliminate a scene in which Kate Winslet
poses for a nude drawing, as well as a steamy lovemaking scene. Once the
change is made, the video is effectively reduced from PG-13 to G,
according to Biesinger.
The store is not part of a chain, and has been owned by Biesinger for
just over two years. The editing service is not intended to be a profit
center, but it is instead a service to customers.
“What we make is low, but we hope it pays off in dividends later on,”
said Biesinger.
