ACCC argues for Playstation modchips.
In a recent court case Eddy Stevens of Sydney was tried for three infringements of Sony trademarks. 1.Selling pirated playstation games, 2.Breaching the fair trading act by implying the pirated copies were genuine and 3.Selling mod chips. He was found guilty on the first count, but not guilty on the second count.
On the third count, the ACCC stepped into assist Mr. Stevens and argued; according to “Australian IT”:
..that mod chips should be legal because they also allowed consumers to make personal back-up copies of games and play games from the US and Japan with NTSC rather than PAL television coding.
The judge however was not waivered by this statement, and found that the chips are used for piracy. But ruled in favour of Mr. Stevens because of conflicts within the Digital Copyright Act. The judgement reads:
“I do not think the definition is concerned with devices or products that … merely have a general deterrent or discouraging effect on those who might be contemplating infringing copyright,”
Sony Australia is considering contesting the decision.
Australian IT
HERE STARTETH THE RANT
My 0.02c here is simply this. I’m with the ACCC, KIND OF. I do undestand the reason’s for having regions on machines. (control audience, control distribution, tracking of sales and language difference for countries etc.) But if console manufacturers would create region free consoles with one special “piracy stopper code”. We could then throw mod chippers and pirates in gaol and there would be know consumer obligation for the ACCC to worry about. However don’t get me wrong. I will say this again and again. Mod Chips and Boot Disc’s are bad… MMkay.
Piracy bad. MMkay.
Having to modify (BAD) a deivce usually does away with the device’s integrity. I remember several cases in early cinema where people were modifying Edison’s Projectors so they could be showing films on bigger screens and getting sued for it. These laws were brought in for safety reason’s too because any modification could cause an imbalance which could turn the film into a BOMB, litterally. That was the days of dodgy little nickelodeons though.
Perhaps the thoughts of integrity are no longer contested in court. I don’t like the idea of putting a non-nintendo chip in my GameCube, and I wouldn’t do that. It isn’t often that I see a game released in Japan I want (in Japanese), so much that I order it. But there are several games that just do not get distributed in Australia. Having a region free console would solve that.
If you are a movie buff, and are a fan of ultra independent companies that only make press DVD’s in their regional coding, you would be crushed if you did not get in and purchase a multiregion DVD player when they were available. Because it now means you have to suffer the VHS or some downloaded digital version.
Hey remeber Video players. They have been multiregion for quite some time. NTSC/PAL/SECAM not that I ever had a Secam tape but it would have been handy if I did. Just do away with region locks and protect the software, the publishers and developers by doing the right thing by them. There software could then reach a potentially wider audience then first intended.
I’d love to hear other peoples thoughts on this. Is a region free console too UTOPIAN? Have there been any region free consoles in the past. My PC is region free:).
posted by Shane G · at 11:04 am · filed under News
My PC is region free
Not for long… heard of Palladium? With Microsoft’s hegemony growing and the rapid balkanisation of the internet, freedom of information transfer is severely endangered. Broadband has not grown and the few companies that offer it are increasingly under the indirect control of media companies.
I’m extremely dissapointed that Bruce Perens backed down on his promise to publicly defy the DMCA and crack a DVD player in front of a live audience last week. It could have been a strong public statement of our right to use information as we see fit.
AFAIK, region locking is a short term solution to stop grey-market selling of entertainment titles. But in a truly globalised world where comsumers have true freedom of choice, such regulations are meaningless.