[ Thanks to Terry Nelson for this link.
]
“Regional restrictions on DVDs could be an anti-competitive
practice and a breach of the Trade Practices Act, the Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission has warned.”
“DVD hardware and software makers encode DVDs to play in one of
six regions around the world as a means of controlling release
dates and fighting piracy….”
“ACCC chairman Allan Fels said the commission was investigating
whether restrictive region coding breached the Trade Practices
Act.” “If the manufacturers have an agreement to do that, it looks
like an anti-competitive agreement breaching not only Australian
law but laws in other countries,” Professor Fels said.”