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The DVD regions are aggravating, I agree. I dislike them very much because they are technologically inefficient on the one hand, and may be legally protected on the other (note that they are not specifically mentioned in the DMCA). So you have a law that sort-of-maybe protects a poor technology rather than clarifying a legal principle.

However, as another listmember pointed out, the idea that copyright owners have the right to control distribution of their works in other countries is not a new one. A section of Title 17 in the 1976 law, 601, forbade importing works printed in English unless they had originally been printed in Canada or the U.S. (exceptions were available, I think, for individuals who brought back a single copy from abroad, etc.). In the 1980s this became obsolete as printing was outsourced to other countries, and in 2010 it was repealed. But there was a protection in place for American book authors and publishers to prevent competition from cheaper/earlier printings, so that the authors could sell the rights both in the U.K. and in North America (which is still the practice).

And there is still a protection against importing copyrighted works in section 602, though what it means is about to be clarified by the Supreme Court.

Check out the BBC, or other foreign websites that make streaming video available of recent broadcasts. You can't access it, because that video either has been sold to, or even produced in co-operation with, a U.S. channel (e.g. HBO, PBS) which has not yet shown it, or else the producers are hoping for a sale of U.S. distribution rights. Instant international access is something to hope for in the future, but it is definitely not here yet.

Aside from Hollywood, which the region coding system is of course meant to protect, it has some value for foreign filmmakers too.

If, say, French movie A does well in theaters in the U.S., it might have a chance at finding a North American distributor. So the continental release, which may take place a year or so before the U.S. has finished theatrical showings, is Region 2 to protect that option for further sales to a distributor. In this case, the copyright holder's chance of profit is really enhanced by the region-coding system.

On the other hand, French Film B is never screened outside NYC and a film festival or two on this continent, so B  is not likely to find a U.S. distributor, or maybe it  finds is a small distributor that tends to target educational markets and libraries; then there is a little more profit for the copyright owner, but if the Region 2 DVDs are circulating in north America the small distributor, whose market is already limited, is in trouble. Add to this that unless people get a chance to see B in some form, there will be little demand. If B can sell itself to IFC or Sundance or some on-demand service, though, they could build up a small market for a DVD version. I still think B would do better if the distribution rights were sold to a company that would issue it internationally in Region 0. But that company would put a number of American companies out of business....







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