VidAngel adds David Quinto to fight ‘Big Hollywood’ over right to filter profanity, nudity
VidAngel, the market-leading entertainment platform empowering users to filter language, nudity, violence, and other content from movies and TV shows, is pleased to announce that legendary Hollywood intellectual property attorney David W. Quinto, who was long a partner at powerhouse firms Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, has joined VidAngel as its general counsel.
Mr. Quinto’s first task will be to spearhead its defense of a lawsuit brought by four major Hollywood studios hoping to enjoin VidAngel from offering its filtering service to the public. With more than three decades of experience in entertainment and intellectual property, including protecting the ©Oscars, Quinto has focused on copyright, trademark, trade secret, unfair competition, and Internet-based cases.
“David’s decision to join VidAngel as General Counsel represents the single most significant development in the case to date. Having successfully represented iconic Hollywood institutions such as the ©OSCAR, the ACADEMY AWARDS® and the Producers Guild of America, as well clients dealing with cutting edge Internet legal issues, there is no one better suited to oversee our legal strategy,” said Neal Harmon, CEO of VidAngel. “David wrote the original legal opinion upon which VidAngel’s business model is based, and today’s announcement demonstrates his full confidence that values consumers seeking to filter content will prevail in court.”
“It is a privilege to be asked by VidAngel to focus on winning a landmark copyright case sure to make new law. I am confident that the studios have overreached by trying to enjoin a service expressly authorized by Congress for the protection of children, and I look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate that in court,” said David W. Quinto, General Counsel at VidAngel.
Respected Los Angeles law firm Baker Marquart LLP will continue to represent VidAngel in defending the lawsuit recently brought against the Utah-based company by Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Brothers, and Lucasfilm, and in prosecuting VidAngel’s antitrust claim against them. Mr. Quinto will oversee all aspects of the case. VidAngel chose Baker Marquart based on the firm’s litigation successes, including the recent landmark ruling in the Central District of California that FilmOn was entitled to the compulsory license enjoyed by large cable companies that deal with TV networks. The opposing plaintiffs in that case included ABC (a division of Disney) and Fox.