Monday, June 06, 2005

Copyright Owners and Parallel Imports

DVD's are exempt from the parallel import copyright amendments act. This includes the software amendment act of 2001.

The democrats have specifically called for a definition of DVD in this regard as they want to protect the Australian Film Industry from overseas competition.

Parallel importing does not infringe on the copyright owners rights, we can only import legally from a country that is a signee of the Berne agreement. The copyright owner is still the owner of the copyright.

How does buying a legitimate copy of a film infringe that, no matter where you buy it?

It can't. People seem to be of the impression that we would be buying a US film over an Australian film, not that we are buying a US copy of an Australian film (Not that there would be much point, but still... [Although if Mad Max had been release in the original US dubbed version in the US I might be tempted to get that, but I'd have both versions]).


On top of all this, the importing of DVD's from other zones is completely legal if they are different (eg 24/25 frames per second issues between PAL and NTSC, getting different extras on a DVD, getting a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone outside the US. It's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone over here. Thus buying a DVD from the US is not parallel importing anyway. It is covered by the Trade Practices Act of 1974, that prevents restriction of consumer choice and zoning does restrict choice.

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