Court Denies VidAngel Counterclaims Against Studios

A federal court rejected VidAngel's counterclaims against Disney, Lucasfilm, Fox and Warner Bros. and its affirmative defense of copyright misuse. In an order (in Pacer) Thursday, U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte of Los Angeles rejected the video filtering company's arguments that the studios' 2014 agreement with the Directors Guild of America prohibiting alternation of a motion picture was an unreasonable restraint on trade and that the studios license only film content under anticompetitive terms and conditions that restrict editing and filtering. VidAngel's allegations that it was advised by business partners no agreement would be possible without director or DGA approval were "implausible" or contradicted by evidence, said the judge, who said plaintiffs have arguably rational, legal business reasons for not selling VidAngel DVDs. Birotte rejected VidAngel allegations plaintiffs colluded with digital video distributors like Google Play and Amazon to not support VidAngel's filtering service, saying there was insufficient evidence. Plaintiff studios are suing for alleged Copyright Act and Digital Millennium Copyright Act violations for streaming their content to subscribers without permission. Outside counsel for VidAngel didn't comment Friday.