Quote by madcrowKawaiiguy:
You're wrong. According to international trade law, region codes are an illegitatimite restraint of trade. In some
countries (especially in Europe) it's not even legal to sell DVD players that enforce region codes...
Unfortunanely, those restrictions have not been brought over to the PC world anywhere and, while multiregion DVD
playback is legal in the US, it isn't enforced the way it is in most EU countries, either, with region-free
playback generally only found in high-end imported DVD players.
I did a little searching on this subject (it is somewhat of a topic of interest). I turned to my favorite
"source," Wikipedia. I found the following articles
on DVD Region codes and region encoding. The first article states
"Many view region code enforcement as a violation of WTO free trade agreements; however, no legal rulings have yet
been made in this area" and the second one states "# It presents a barrier to free trade, which may be illegal
in some areas such as the EU."
Which one to follow? Who knows. Just because there isn't an official ruling doesn't mean it's legal or
not. The second article also contains the following statement: "For example, the DMCA has a circumventing a scheme
used to restrict access to copyrighted material clause which may be used to criminalize people who ignore, circumvent,
or crack a regional-lockout scheme." Does this mean that disabling your computer's DVD region checker with a
firmware flash is illegal? Sure sounds like it...
As for Europe, it seems like there are subdivisions of the R2 region code: "European Region 2 DVDs may be sub-coded
"d1" through "d4." "d1" identifies a UK-only release. "d2" and "d3"
identify European DVDs that are not sold in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. "d4" identifies DVDs that are
distributed throughout Europe."
If it's illegal in Europe, then why are there even more restrictions?
Quote by minebannLast time I
checked, playing a DVD on equipment bought in another part of the world didn't involve copying
anything.
No, but protecting a company's intellectual property rights is a function of copyright. The region code sort of
helps enforce this by denoting where a certain disk is meant to be sold and used, legalities aside. You know that FBI
warning that comes up on the screen when you first play a disk/tape? That makes an attempt at throwing a bunch of legal
words at consumers.
Anyway, this is getting wildly out of hand... I suggest moving discussion on copyright stuff elsewhere, like here.
