GraveDilute Posted April 2, 2007 Posted April 2, 2007 I got in contact with the Attorney General's Office to clarify the legal position on DVD players and region free. This is the reply which I received. From the way I read this, region locked DVD players are technically in breach of the Copyright Act? Thoughts anyone? I think there is an opportunity to essentially force manufacturers to provide region free DVD capability. Interesting consequences for PS3 and XBOX 360 I think. [Reply] Recent changes to the technological protection measures (TPM) liability scheme in the Copyright Act 1968 clarify that measures which enable geographic market segmentation (such as DVD region coding) are not protected under the Act. This is because technological protection measures that control geographic market segmentation are excluded from the definitions of 'access control technological protection measures' and 'technological protection measures', and consequently excluded from the civil and criminal provisions relating to circumvention of 'technological protection measures'. These changes to Australian copyright law have also clarified that Australian consumers who purchase legitimate DVDs overseas are able to circumvent the region coding on those DVDs to enable playback in Australia. Retailers and manufacturers can also supply multi-region players. The prohibition on circumvention and dealings in circumvention devices and services can be found in sections 116AN, 116AO and 116AP (civil remedies) and sections 132APC, 132APD and 132APE (criminal offences). The exclusion of geographic market segmentation can be found in the definitions of 'technological protection measures' and 'access control technological protection measures in section 10(1) of the Copyright Act 1968. A copy of the Copyright A 1968 is available at http://www.comlaw.gov.au/ComLaw/Legislatio...sf/current/byti tle/72A2989B7B9A2287CA25726000146EFA?OpenDocument&mostrecent=1. I hope this information is of assistance. Regards Copyright Law Branch
AndrewW Posted April 2, 2007 Posted April 2, 2007 nope that tells me it's not illegal to circumvent the region coding, but that they can continue to sell region coded players and discs. Andrew.
pgdownload Posted April 2, 2007 Posted April 2, 2007 The way I read that is that no one can stop someone making a region free player or using a region free player. But its not illegal to make a player that isn't region free. Regards Peter Gillespie
dvduser Posted April 2, 2007 Posted April 2, 2007 The operative word is CAN, that does not mean they have too Retailers and manufacturers can also supply multi-region players. [/quote
GraveDilute Posted April 2, 2007 Author Posted April 2, 2007 Just was thinking along the lines of the mod chip challenge to Sony a couple of years ago. By preventing people from watching content they had legal access to, they were in breach. If the PS3 was region free, I would buy one today. As is, I can't justify it. Same with other units out there in the market. Would love a local HD/BR player which could play everything.
AndrewW Posted April 2, 2007 Posted April 2, 2007 Just was thinking along the lines of the mod chip challenge to Sony a couple of years ago. By preventing people from watching content they had legal access to, they were in breach. That was not the ruling at all. The ruling was that mod chips were not illegal, as they legally allowed the user to circumvent the region coding. The ruling was not that region coding is illegal. edit: more's the pity Andrew.
GraveDilute Posted April 2, 2007 Author Posted April 2, 2007 That was not the ruling at all.The ruling was that mod chips were not illegal, as they legally allowed the user to circumvent the region coding. The ruling was not that region coding is illegal. edit: more's the pity Andrew. I understand that. What I meant was that my take on this change to the act means that theoretically someone could challenge the Region coding on a BR or HD dvd player as the region coding is abrogating their rights under the new Copyright Act. Someone can legally purchase material from any market, but there is no corresponding obligation on manufacturers to allow that person to watch that material. This seems illegal. That is the intention of starting this thread. I'm interested in whether there are grounds to take this issue further.
yamapro Posted April 2, 2007 Posted April 2, 2007 Hi there grave, Interesting find but i think your conclusion that region coding is illegal is a little skewed. The good news is under the act your completely entitled to develop your own BR player that circumvents region coding - BIG international market there to be tapped! Although i don't like region coding i do believe the owner of any IP should be entitled to control their own distribution of that IP, i actually really fear the day that legislation strips any company of the right to decide how best to distribute their own IP - for 2 reasons... 1) It's unconstitutional and 2) Just the VIBE!
jokiin Posted April 2, 2007 Posted April 2, 2007 I'm interested in whether there are grounds to take this issue further. I don't think so
AndrewW Posted April 2, 2007 Posted April 2, 2007 So I wonder if that means it's ok for me to use a copy of BackupBluRay to rip my Blu Ray discs and then burn them as region free discs ? Same question goes for good old DVDs ? Andrew.
pgdownload Posted April 2, 2007 Posted April 2, 2007 So I wonder if that means it's ok for me to use a copy of BackupBluRay to rip my Blu Ray discs and then burn them as region free discs ? Same question goes for good old DVDs ? Andrew.My take would be yes. It is not illegal to 'remove' this aspect of 'copy protection' from a DVD. However whether you then need to destroy the original is up for grabs?Regards Peter Gillespie
jokiin Posted April 2, 2007 Posted April 2, 2007 It is not illegal to 'remove' this aspect of 'copy protection' from a DVD. Bypassing the encryption is the part that is illegal, even in the US where they have laws that allow them to have a backup copy of media that they own still doesn't get them around the issue of removing the encryption in the first place. Region coding is not related to encryption methods surrounding copy protection anyway.
xr06t Posted April 3, 2007 Posted April 3, 2007 from my understanding of the 1st post, it is the player which is allowed to be region free, not the media.. eg if you can make you region coded player region free that is fine, then it can play all media legally. but you cannot make the media itself region free. please correct me if im wrong!
jokiin Posted April 3, 2007 Posted April 3, 2007 from my understanding of the 1st post, it is the player which is allowed to be region free, not the media.. eg if you can make you region coded player region free that is fine, then it can play all media legally.but you cannot make the media itself region free. please correct me if im wrong! That pretty much covers it
mewetwo Posted April 5, 2007 Posted April 5, 2007 Remember that having one back up copy is legal due to the changes in the Copyright laws. I think that there might be issues with modifying any players due to the changes in laws brought about by the US FTA. From my understanding the reason why the modded players was deemed legal was that the region coding was seen as a illegal restriction on competition.
Thudd1503560234 Posted April 5, 2007 Posted April 5, 2007 Market forces drove manufacturers to supply region free players. But because PS3s are unique to Sony, there is nothing to force them due to competitive pressures to make the PS3 region free. What I can imagine them doing is succumbing to pressure and releasing a region free firmware for BD/SD DVDs, but leaving region coding in place for games.
MELso Posted April 5, 2007 Posted April 5, 2007 Remember that having one back up copy is legal due to the changes in the Copyright laws. I think that there might be issues with modifying any players due to the changes in laws brought about by the US FTA. From my understanding the reason why the modded players was deemed legal was that the region coding was seen as a illegal restriction on competition. You can make a 'backup' of software and formatshift and timeshift movies and music, but you can't make 'backups' of movies and music. Theoretically you could remove the region coding from DVDs if you could do so without disturbing the CSS. In practice though, it's impossible.
mewetwo Posted April 7, 2007 Posted April 7, 2007 Market forces drove manufacturers to supply region free players. But because PS3s are unique to Sony, there is nothing to force them due to competitive pressures to make the PS3 region free.What I can imagine them doing is succumbing to pressure and releasing a region free firmware for BD/SD DVDs, but leaving region coding in place for games. There is no region coding for games, only for BD/SD DVDs. This is a point of comparison with the HD DVD as they do not have any region coding at all. I really don't understand what this continuing persistance with region coding is for given the number of overseas sites that ship internationally and also the general mobility of people in the developed world.
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