Must movie captioning include song lyrics? Defendant studios cite free speech in civil rights case
After 25 years of legislation and litigation, those who are hearing-impaired have an option to purchase and rent movies with captioning. However, song lyrics, which can be an integral part of the story, may not be included, says a civil rights suit filed against a number of major Hollywood studios.
“While the dialogue of some movies or shows are [sic] indeed fully subtitled, the practice of not subtitling song/music lyrics is frustratingly widespread,” allege plaintiffs in the California case, who are members of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
Originally filed in state court in October, the litigation was removed to federal court by the defendants, which include Disney and Warner Brothers, the Hollywood Reporter’s THR, Esq. reports.
The plaintiffs say studio claims about movie captioning constitute false advertising and breach of an implied warranty when songs aren’t captioned, too.
But in motions to dismiss, the defendants contend the common lack of song captions makes it unreasonable for the plaintiffs to assume that movies they rent will include them. Additionally, the motions say, no law mandates that studios must caption all portions of the creative material they produce, and imposing such a requirement would violate their free-speech rights, the article explains.
“The studios remain free to caption or subtitle some but not all song lyrics, exactly as plaintiffs admit they have done,” the defendants write. “To hold otherwise would improperly limit the Studios’ exercise of creative discretion.”
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “9th Circuit tosses part of lawsuit against CNN demanding closed-captioning on its Web videos”
Hollywood Reporter: “CNN Gets First Amendment Victory in Video Captioning Dispute”
See also:
ABA Journal: “People with disabilities want the Internet to be more accessible”
