《中英對照讀新聞》Court: Film Companies Can't Cut Smut 法庭裁定：片商不能刪除情色劇情

◎陳成良

Sanitizing movies on DVD or VHS tape violates federal copyright laws, and several companies that scrub films must turn over their inventory to Hollywood studios, an appeals judge ruled.

一位上訴法庭法官裁決，在DVD或VHS影帶上淨化電影，觸犯聯邦著作權法，數家「洗片」公司必須將手中存貨交給好萊塢製片廠。

Editing movies to delete objectionable language, sex and violence is an "illegitimate business" that hurts Hollywood studios and directors who own the movie rights, said U.S. District Judge Richard P. Matsch in a decision released Thursday in Denver.

編輯電影以刪除片中令人反感的語言、性及暴力內容，是一項「不法行業」，也傷害了擁有這些電影版權的好萊塢製片廠及導演，美國地區檢察官馬屈在週四於丹佛公布的一項判決書中說。

"Their (studios and directors) objective ... is to stop the infringement because of its irreparable injury to the creative artistic expression in the copyrighted movies," the judge wrote. "There is a public interest in providing such protection."

「他們（製片廠及導演）的目標……是阻止這種侵權行為，因為這種行為對版權電影中別具創意的藝術呈現，造可無法彌補的傷害，」這名法官寫道：「提供這種保護，符合公共利益。」

The controversy began in 1998 when the owners of Sunrise Family Video began deleting scenes from "Titanic" that showed a naked Kate Winselt. The scrubbing caused an uproar in Hollywood, resulting in several lawsuits and countersuits.

這場爭議起於1998年，當時「日昇家庭影視公司」首開先例，將「鐵達尼號」片中女主角凱特溫絲蕾的裸露片段刪除。這種「清片」舉動在好萊塢掀起軒然大波，導致多起訴訟以及反控官司。

新聞辭典

smut：名詞，污物、污斑；淫詞穢語；情色的內容。There is a smut dealer just near the high school.（在那所高中附近，有個賣黃色書刊的人）。

scrub：動詞，擦掉；擦洗。She patiently scrubbed the dirty marks off the wall. （她耐心地擦去牆上的污漬）。

objectionable：令人不愉快的；討厭的。She found his behavior objectionable.（她覺得他的行為令人作嘔）。