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| Registered: March 13, 2007 |  Posts: 2,694 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quoting Mithi: Quote:
legal, illegal, scheißegal! 
This whole matter has a lot of facets, so a simple "legal or illegal" isn't an available answer.
First of all: was it a legit copy or a bootleg in the US. If it is a legit copy there is, in my opinion, nothing illegal in shipping it round the world.
Resale is another matter, because there might be a copyrightholder in Norway and from his point of view this is a parallel import and it colides with his rights. (At least in the EU it would be so, don't know how reasonable Norway handles that)
cya, Mithi They probably couldn't make a case that would make it through the courts for selling it outside the US, BUT it would give them legal leverage to go after the jobber or wholesaler in the US that shipped it contrary to agreements they've signed -- and they do have to agree to abide by those rules. Such a case on a big hit could easily put a jobber out of business from legal costs defending himself. | | | John
"Extremism in the defense of Liberty is no vice!" Senator Barry Goldwater, 1964
Make America Great Again! |
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| Registered: March 13, 2007 | Reputation:  |  Posts: 1,946 |
| | Posted: | | | | I live in Belgium, and we get quite a lot of crappy releases. Pan & Scan while R1 is widescreen. Dolby 2.0 while R1 has 5.1 or even DTS.
I know it's illegal to buy R1 releases here, because of parallel import reasons. But what is important to me is to have a quality product. If prefer to have dutch subtitles, but if the local market can't provide quality, I shop internationally.
I do believe most consumers prefer or even require subtitles, so the losses caused by parallel import are minimal. | | | View my collection at http://www.chriskepolis.be/home/dvd.htm
Chris |
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| Registered: May 9, 2007 |  Posts: 1,536 |
| | Posted: | | | | The prohibition to sell outside the US and Canada is also in place for releases that are never offered for sale abroad, so even if there is no local seller to be affected, there can be a rule forbidding the sale.
Paying import taxes or VAT are unrelated issues, and don't make it right (in the eyes of the copyright holder).
But as far as US law regulates this, the party to go after would be the seller in the US, not the buyer abroad... And why would region-free players be so popular? The fact that HD-DVD is (so far) region-free also suggests that the whole scheme is highly overdue for re-thinking.
After all, creating an illegal circuit only puts money in the hands of the wrong people. | | | | Hans |
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| Registered: March 14, 2007 | Reputation:  |  Posts: 4,679 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quote:
Not authorized for sale or rental outside the USA and Canada. To me, the fact that they use the word "authorized" suggests that it's not actually illegal. If it was in fact illegal, a stronger word would have been used. | | | My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar | | | | Last edited: by GSyren |
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| Registered: March 13, 2007 | | Posts: 1,279 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quoting GSyren: Quote:
Quote:
Not authorized for sale or rental outside the USA and Canada.
To me, the fact that they use the word "authorized" suggests that it's not actually illegal. If it was in fact illegal, a stronger word would have been used. I agree, anyone remember the person on the old site who didn't understand that retailers breaking their agreement with distributors by shipping DVDs early was not actually breaking the law, just their contractual agreement? It's all about trying to control distribution in the same way region coding was implemented. If it was actually illegal to ship them to the UK then all those shipments I've had looked at by customs would have been confiscated. | | | | IVS Registered: January 2, 2002 |
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| Registered: March 15, 2007 |  Posts: 1,982 |
| | Posted: | | | | The same thing is written on my region 2 DVD. The only reason that it's like it is because of the DVD region that was decided by the hollywood studio. Do you really think that's mean something. The studio wants you to buy the crap that they release in your region and not what is better somewhere else. There a lot of exemple of cheap region 1 DVD that I buy from another region(The Thing, Prince of darkness, Flash Gordon, the descent,...).So don't be worry |
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| Registered: June 21, 2007 | Reputation:  | | Posts: 2,621 |
| | Posted: | | | | As long as the disc is legit, I'm sure the studio won't mind getting some extra sales overseas. If the site selling them is buying them legally then I see nothing wrong as it's probably easier for you to order from them than a US site. Probably cheap er too considering shipping and customs (if applicable in your country). Ironicly here in the states, when I want disc from the U.K. it's almost always cheaper to order from U.K. sites than the few U.S. based sites that carry R2 discs. Whatever region has the best version of movies I want is what I will buy, region coding is for suckers.  |
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| Registered: March 14, 2007 |  Posts: 742 |
| | Posted: | | | | | | | | Lutz | | | | Last edited: by Darxon |
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| Registered: March 13, 2007 | | Posts: 2,694 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quoting GSyren: Quote:
Quote:
Not authorized for sale or rental outside the USA and Canada.
To me, the fact that they use the word "authorized" suggests that it's not actually illegal. If it was in fact illegal, a stronger word would have been used. They can still be sued for breach of contract. But don't assume that the use of 'authorized' means they can't be charged criminally. Certain types of software can't be sold outside of the US by law, and if somebody does they can be prosecuted for it. The US versions of many programs contain code that can be used for military purposes by our enemies. That's why Microsoft, for example, sells different versions of Windows to different countries. | | | John
"Extremism in the defense of Liberty is no vice!" Senator Barry Goldwater, 1964
Make America Great Again! |
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| Registered: March 14, 2007 | | Posts: 742 |
| | Posted: | | | | Just how far does the US-copyright or trade regulations carry you think?
If I were in the US as a tourist and bought some software or DVD at a regular retailer, took it back to Germany with me and after a while decide to part ways with it, you actually believe I wouldn't be entitled to and possibly subject to civil or criminal prosecution?
Please source the basis for such claims, I'm curious to know and learn.
Or, if I were a US-citizen and move abroad (permanently or for a certain period of time due to marriage, job relocation or whatever reason) and take my legally bought software and DVDs with me, and after a while decide to sell certain items for whatever reason, I could be subject to civil or criminal prosecution?
I'm also curious to know about possible grounds for claims for this case.
I WOULD think that the legal owners rights of a product bought legally (or even better: brought into commercial circulation by the holder of copyrights or rights of intellectual property) surpass the rights of those holding the copyrights. After all, it's MY DVD, MY program, I paid good money for it and should be entitled to do with as I please.
Or are there certain clauses on US retail receipts telling you what to do with your DVD or software program? If so, I'd like to see one of those as well.
Like I said, I'm always curious and willing to learn. | | | | Lutz | | | | Last edited: by Darxon |
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| Registered: March 14, 2007 | | Reputation: | | Posts: 4,679 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quoting Rifter: Quote:
Quoting GSyren:
Quote:
Quote:
Not authorized for sale or rental outside the USA and Canada.
To me, the fact that they use the word "authorized" suggests that it's not actually illegal. If it was in fact illegal, a stronger word would have been used.
They can still be sued for breach of contract. But don't assume that the use of 'authorized' means they can't be charged criminally. Certain types of software can't be sold outside of the US by law, and if somebody does they can be prosecuted for it. The US versions of many programs contain code that can be used for military purposes by our enemies. That's why Microsoft, for example, sells different versions of Windows to different countries. Well, you may be right, but it's my experience that companies wanting to protect something will do so in the strongest wording possible. If it was illegal, it would say "illegal" rather than "not authorized", IMO. | | | My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar |
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| Registered: March 13, 2007 | | Reputation: | | Posts: 5,494 |
| | Posted: | | | | I would say two things here:
One: Region 1 means region one USA/ Canada any where else the dic is not encoded and will not playback unless on a region free player
Two: Each region has its own pricing and therefore the authorized pricing market is Region 1 and 2 | | | In the 60's, People took Acid to make the world Weird. Now the World is weird and People take Prozac to make it Normal.
Terry |
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| Registered: March 13, 2007 |  Posts: 2,692 |
| | Posted: | | | | r1 sellers are quite happz to sell directly to customers abroad. The only problem is where you get a company importing & buying R1 dvds to sell on.
They are being naughty..
But the final buyer will be (in practice) quite safe.
If this standard disclaimer (which is on every dvd) worries you then send all the non r2 dvds to me immediately! | | | | Paul |
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| Registered: March 13, 2007 | | Posts: 1,279 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quoting pauls42: Quote:
r1 sellers are quite happz to sell directly to customers abroad. The only problem is where you get a company importing & buying R1 dvds to sell on.
They are being naughty..
But the final buyer will be (in practice) quite safe.
I know you're aware but for those that aren't this is naughty as all DVDs (exempt titles aside) have to be certified by the BBFC and carry the certification and obviously the R1 imports aren't. Even if for all intents and purposes they are exactly the same as the UK release. | | | | IVS Registered: January 2, 2002 |
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| Registered: June 21, 2007 | | Reputation: | | Posts: 2,621 |
| | Posted: | | | | I think the cases more likely to care are those where different studios have rights in different countries. For example, Paramount would probably be mad if they knew everyone was buying the R2 disc of Friday The 13th as WB has the overseas rights, so they wouldn't be getting anything for the sales. |
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| Registered: March 13, 2007 | Reputation:  | | Posts: 2,217 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quoting Darxon: Quote:
If I were in the US as a tourist and bought some software or DVD at a regular retailer, took it back to Germany with me and after a while decide to part ways with it, you actually believe I wouldn't be entitled to and possibly subject to civil or criminal prosecution? If you sell a R1-DVD in germany you snub the german or european copyrightholder, because only(!) the copyrightholder has the right to distribute the copyrighted material. And those are, im most cases different entities for different countries, hence the problem with the parallel-import. And yes, I wouldn't say that the sale of one DVD is a 'distribution' but copyrightholders might see that differently. cya, Mithi | | | | Mithi's little XSLT tinkering - the power of XML --- DVD-Profiler Mini-Wiki |
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