OFFICIAL: Importing DVDs is illegal
 

According to:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...2003x/mpaa.jpg

MPPA www.respectcopyrights.org

People should post all their DVDs immediately to the MPPA at:

I'm A World Wide Criminal Importer DVD Mastermind
15503 Ventura Blvd.
Encino,
California 91436



It's OK to export/import weapons of mass destruction though. So it's not all bad news.

I do note that at least the MPAA carefully chose its words to avoid using the term "illegal" or "unlawful." The MPAA states that "parallel imports" as they call it is merely "unauthorized" which is entirely true. However, there's a world of difference between that which is unauthorized and that which is illegal.

if the american studios can get it right everytime, nobody here would be importing dvds

I got the UK Melody Time cause the US version is all censored! Oh I feel so guilty!!

SCREW the mpaa

From the U.S. Copyright Act:

17 USC § 602: Infringing importation of copies or phonorecords

(a) Importation into the United States, without the authority of the owner of copyright under this title, of copies or phonorecords of a work that have been acquired outside the United States is an infringement of the exclusive right to distribute copies or phonorecords under section 106, actionable under section 501.

This subsection does not apply to—
(1) importation of copies or phonorecords under the authority or for the use of the Government of the United States or of any State or political subdivision of a State, but not including copies or phonorecords for use in schools, or copies of any audiovisual work imported for purposes other than archival use;
(2) importation, for the private use of the importer and not for distribution, by any person with respect to no more than one copy or phonorecord of any one work at any one time, or by any person arriving from outside the United States with respect to copies or phonorecords forming part of such person’s personal baggage; or
(3) importation by or for an organization operated for scholarly, educational, or religious purposes and not for private gain, with respect to no more than one copy of an audiovisual work solely for its archival purposes, and no more than five copies or phonorecords of any other work for its library lending or archival purposes, unless the importation of such copies or phonorecords is part of an activity consisting of systematic reproduction or distribution, engaged in by such organization in violation of the provisions of section 108 (g)(2).

DJ

dvdtalk forum is turning into legal talk forum.

the website is kinda lame tho. but nice links.

so, from the us code, it *is* ok to import? i'm not sure if that is relevant to illegally made copies made by unauthorized people or copies legally distributed bythe copyright holder brought back into the US.

Marry a Canadian.. it's legal here EH!

Yes, if you're the government, if you're doing it for non-profit educational/religious purposes, or if you're importing no more than one copy of any given film at one time strictly for personal use (not for resale). If you're importing multiples copies of films for the purpose of reselling them, you are committing copyright infringement.

Both. As laid out by the House of Representatives Report on the matter from the time (No. 94–1476): "Section 602...deals with two separate situations: importation of “piratical” articles (that is, copies or phonorecords made without any authorization of the copyright owner), and unauthorized importation of copies or phonorecords that were lawfully made. The general approach of section 602 is to make unauthorized importation an act of infringement in both cases...."

DJ

so it's ok to import discs just as long as they are for private use and not for distribution/sales?

Yes, so long as you don't import more than one copy of any given film at any given time. You're also allowed to import whatever you like (again, for personal use only) so long as it is part of your "personal baggage" when you arrive in the U.S. from overseas.

DJ

djtoell - sweet. you're so informed :)

i guess it doesn't matter to me anyway. as much as i want to watch battle royale, i just dont want to put the effort into understanding how regions affect me and my dvd player.

parallel import is a notion developed by dealers with a contract, in their eyes a parallel importer is always unauthorized.
but authorization is one thing, the law is another
it would be interesting to have numbers of DVD's going through both sides of the Atlantic, I suspect that the Studios are making big bucks letting sell R1 DVD's to Europeans and Asians, viceversa should be true too.

In the "Would you bust someone selling copied DVDs" thread, someone asked just what the MPAA was doing that was 'stealing from us'. Ladies and Gents, I give you exhibit A!

So I think I feel a paradigm shift in my feelings about copying discs coming on. As long as they keep trying to pull this shit, I'll download music guilt free and I'll copy movies guilt free. Fuck the studios. Fuck them up their stupid asses.

I know in some countries, the normal Joe Bloggs can order DVDs from overseas. However its illegal for a retail or rental store to get them in. There concerns are that it will fuck up the theatre revenues etc. In my opinion, it should be allowed and the theatres should be made better or cheaper to entice customers in. As usual the paying customer is punished.

hm, i work at a video store that rents and sells imports from all over and has for many years, and they have had no apparent problems.

exactly

This doesn't count in Canada or the UK I assume. This is US only it seems. Oh well, I don't buy DVDs unless I see em in stores. I'm too lazy, lol..

Its probably for the R4 countries as theatre releases can be quite far behind.

The sceen above makes me think that they are targeting those that are taking R1 DVDs and importing them. After all, why would (or should) the MPAA care if I am importing a foreign film that is only available on another region. Other than the fact that perhaps Miramax wants to buy the rights and then fuck it up.

I think that's a little too simplistic, so that's not always the case.
There are many, many movies released around the world that would have such limited appeal in the U.S. that releasing them here would probably be financially suicidal.

agreed. off the top of my head, some of my recent purchases were for 2046, oldboy, and spaced -- i doubt we will hear of a potential R1 release for any of these titles any time soon.

But I know of at least 2 good versions of BR that are NTSC and Region 0, that your player could play just fine. :)


I already know that importing DVDs from other countries for my own use is perfectly legal. But even if it wasn't, I would sure do it anyway.


With that ad, I'm sure that the MPAA is more concerned about non-Region 1 folks importing R1 discs. They don't care about us in R1 importing other region discs (well, maybe Miramax cares, but screw them, it's their own fault :) )

I think it's pretty clear they are really aiming at downloaders, not importers. Media companies and industries have always liked these ambiguous warnings that don't actually affect over 90% of their consumers just to confuse and frighten us. Shouldn't work on too many visiting this forum.

I think it's interesting that their one non-Flash link is to the MPAA, but the popup text for it says Warner Bros. Hmm, don't seem to need to even try to figure out who is behind that site.

Wrong. First off, was it the MPAA that initiated this policy? I'm not quite sure, but anyhow, stealing (per dictionary.com) is: To take (the property of another) without right or permission. To the best of my knowledge, disallowing importation of products is not stealing them.

mpaa can kiss my ass :p

Quote:
2) importation, for the private use of the importer and not for distribution, by any person with respect to no more than one copy or phonorecord of any one work at any one time, or by any person arriving from outside the United States with respect to copies or phonorecords forming part of such person’s personal baggage; or
:unquote

What this means is it is LEGAL to buy one copy for your own personal use. However, if you buy 10 copies or more and then sell them--that is technically illegal.

I've always known this about importing video material, I did not realise that the way the law is actually written, it refers to books too.

I guess I BETTER NOT let the US copyright office anywhere near my library before the **&^%%%$# decide to burn all the British books I own (not to mention the Canadian, Irish, and French ones)!

--Brit TV Fan

Isn't it a shame that the greatest so-called democracy in the world is SO AFRAID of the opinions of people in other countries that ANY and ALL representations of the culture of those countries are stopped at the border? How stupid can you get.

I'm still scratching my head in trying to understand the MPAA's logic with putting those annoying little dots on film prints. I know it's suppose to help trace bootlegging but exactly how I don't know.

And, in all honesty, I don't think the MPAA knows either.

:confused:

Each film print sent to a certain area or theater gets different prints that have different little dot patterns.

When the bootleg shows up on the internet, they take a look at where exactly those dots are, what shape/form they are in and from that they narrow down which theaters the bootleggers are recording the copy from. They can talk to the theater to tighten security and do other things based on the knowledge of which theater is allowing this to happen.

Do you (the unified "you"... not "you" you) really think the theater owners care? It's not like they make much money from the screening of the movie anyway.

But thank you for the insight.

Oh, you can be sure. Take a look at The Link. See way down at the bottom the MPAA link, and the contact us, and the FAQ - that's very much the MPAA employing scare tactics again.

Ok stealing is not quite the right word. But Corporate America is trying to run roughshod over my rights to buy what I want from wherever I want (AKA outside the US). No, they haven't said "It's illegal!" - but they're trying really, really hard with little dog and pony shows like this one. They are trying to scare the populace into acceptance and compliance.

How people can defend a policy like that boggles the mind.

Its not so much that they're afraid of the culture, its a desire for control and of shameless greed. They don't want you to import Final Fantasy XXIII from Japan 8 months (or Battle Royale from the UK, or whatever) before it's release in the US shores, because The US Studios don't get a cut of the pie. Somebody else gets your money, and not the people that count.

That's why they're scared. That's why they seek to impose these artificial limitations on us - it's all about the Washingtons at the end of the day.

It applies to any and all copyrighted material.

DJ

Congress adopted Section 602 on October 19, 1976. I don't think that the MPAA was cracking down on DVD importation at that time.

DJ

I think they start laying down fines and/or other threats to the chain so that some action is taken.

I really doubt it will help anything since those bootlegging can easily jump to another theater or whatever.

While your particular laws obviously don't apply in the UK, we actually do have similar laws over here. However, it's more about film classifications because in the UK certifications are a legal requirement rather than guidance (no unrated over here :( ).

Essentially - it is okay for us to import DVDs for personal use, so long as those DVDs do not contravene any UK censorship laws (mainstream releases don't, it's only underground stuff which might).

However, it is illegal to sell DVDs in the UK which have not been classified by the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) and do not bear a BBFC classification. Hence, any UK supplier selling R1 DVDs has to store them in another country and ship them from there. Some obviously don't, but pretend to and get away with it. However, others are not so lucky - one retailer was recently busted for this and closed down (InterDVD).

The official line, from BBFC.co.uk FAQs:

On top of this, retailers who do sell R1 DVDs are breaking contracts with the studios, which is related to that stuff stated in small print on the back cover of all Region 1 DVDs about being for sale in the US and Canada only.

I don't see any problem with this law about importing, it has little to do with theft or even copyright, even though it is part of the copyright code. It has to do with sales and distribution rights and a bit about importation and it has everything to do with protecting US companies' rights to get profit from selling items that may be imported. You can find laws all over the books about import/distribution rights. You may find this offensive, as Kabong's next comment shows, which is fine.

You want to know why this should be acceptible? Let's do a comparison. Go to a little town with a Walmart, see all the closed little shops that Walmart forced out of business? If only they would enforce the damn laws on this kind of situation. It's really the same thing. The import laws protect US companies (theoretically) the same way the laws SHOULD HAVE protected those small retailers.

It has taken longer for people to see the problems with our democratic system, but it is certainly there. Corruption comes much faster with other govt systems, but it's always the same. If only.....



Now, the ad is misleading and is designed to scare individuals from buying overseas, just as the silly region coding is in the first place. I don't like that ad, but then I don't like any advertising. It is all designed to deceive. I only like ads for entertainment value, like Superbowl ads. The one with Andy Roddick buying an extra airplane ticket for his tennis trophy is priceless, but it sure won't sway me one way or the other on acquiring an AmEx card.

The thing is, a lot of theater owners would have special screenings the first night of, or the Thursday before, release and let bootleggers in (assumably charging them extra). Or, at least, this was the apocryphal concern that prompted this tactic. So if one theater is bootlegged once, it's not so big a deal. Maybe they say "Hey, get more secure!" But if the same theater is being consistently bootlegged, and the bootlegs obviously come from private screenings with no crowd making noise, something is clearly wrong at that theater.

Which laws should have protected the small businesses? I know you don't mean the importing/copyright ones, but I don't know which ones you actually mean.

"Unauthorized" does not equal "illegal".

what a joke... why does MPAA even have that on their page if it isn't illegal? Just a scare tactic??

Nobody notice the offer to download the PC scanner for spying on your relatives and friends private files?

I'm finding people like the UK/US government, the MPAA, the RIAA and the like far more scary than Al Queda or people wanting to fly planes into our tall buildings. Private companies (MPAA) seem to have the full support of the US government to do anything they like and wrap it up in horribly stiffling laws mixed with scare tactics and disinformation.

Anti-West terrorists (which we help breed) want to kill us. I can relate to that. Our tax money is going to people who want to control us until we are that fat and stupid we will be scared to go out of the house.

That's something we should all be scared about as it's about removing freedoms and the right to think and do things wrong and to be responsible.