Programmed re-editing occurs when software (such as that employed in a DVD player) is used to skip portions of the video and/or audio content on-the-fly, according to pre-programmed instruction sets that are knowingly used by the consumer.
The voluntary labeling program was established by the MPAA in response to pending legislation in Congress that would have mandated more specific notices such as “This film is not the version originally released.
The heirs of the director and the screenwriter object because this alteration changes the narrative and/or characterization.”[2] Early cases of this practice date back to Germany's occupation by the Nazis, who regularly stole prints of American movies from European countries during their Blitzkrieg raids.
They would then either cheaply reanimate the movie (see Hochzeit im Korallenmeer), or would change the names of production staff listed in the credits (as with Max and David Fleischer's cartoon shorts).
When Titanic was released on VHS in the winter of 1998, a video store owner in Utah began offering to re-edit purchased copies of the film for a $5 service fee.
At the end of the 1990s, some small companies began selling copies of movies, without the scenes containing violent and/or indecent content, or foul language, to appeal to family audiences.
After a CleanFlicks franchisee in Colorado pre-emptively sued several major film directors out of concern that the guild (citing a notice on the DGA's website that inferred such a lawsuit was pending) were going to sue, the Directors Guild of America and the MPAA filed a countersuit against CleanFlicks and CleanFilms—while including several other distributors of edited DVD prints of theatrical features—arguing that the re-editing of their originally distributed work resulted in a derivation on a fixed media in violation of copyright.
These restore—and occasionally also shorten or omit (as in the case of Alien)—scenes or footage from movies that had been left out of the theatrical print for varying reasons (including studio interference with the directors creative vision, inability to finish what was intended due to technology, or even the reactions of test audiences).
[5] Despite the aforementioned legal rulings, companies continue to sell re-edited movies via the Internet, some of which have been shut down in accordance with the reasoning of the 2006 decision by the Colorado District Court.
[7] However, physical "brick and mortar" stores have been shut down, such as Cougar Video in Provo, Utah, which remained open long after the named companies in the aforementioned lawsuit were closed down.