Criticism and Legal Concerns
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Region-code enforcement has been discussed as a possible violation of World Trade Organization free trade agreements or competition law. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has warned that DVD players that enforce region-coding may violate their Trade Practices Act. Under New Zealand copyright law, DVD region codes and the mechanisms in DVD players to enforce them have no legal protection. The practice has also been criticized by the European Commission which is currently investigating whether the resulting price discrimination amounts to a violation of EU competition law.
The Washington Post has highlighted how DVD region-coding has been a major inconvenience for travelers who wish to legally purchase DVDs abroad and return with them to their countries of origin, students of foreign languages, immigrants who want to watch films from their homeland and foreign film enthusiasts. Another criticism is that region-coding allows for local censorship. For example, the Region 1 DVD of the drama film Eyes Wide Shut (1999), directed by Stanley Kubrick, contains the digital manipulations necessary for the film to secure an MPAA R-rating, whereas these manipulations are not evident in non–region 1 discs.
Read more about this topic: DVD Region Code
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