The censorship code gradually became liberalized 1950s–60s, until it was replaced by the current classification system established by the Motion Picture Association of America. Legally, it was in the mid-1950s when the United States Supreme Court extended First Amendment legal protection to films, reversing its original verdict, and, in a second case, ended once common practice of film studios owning the cinemas, which had made it difficult films outside of the studios, such as independent or international films, to be widely exhibited, much less commercially successful.