Hey all. I just received the following email regarding a UK import DVD I offer for sale online. I offer the DVD for sale internationally, not just in North America. Am I really breaking the law? Thanks in advance for the feedback.
Greetings,
I’m writing on behalf of Acorn Media Publishing. It has come to our attention that you have been selling copies of the Region 2 DVD release of “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” (see link and e-mail below).
[eBay Item ID removed]
The Region 2 release of “Tinker…” is not authorized for sale in North America. As such, it is in conflict with both copyright laws and E-Bay’s listing policies (see below for an excerpt from E-Bay’s policies).
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/importation.html
Goods that might be subject to import restrictions:
Copyrighted works
The owners of the copyrights in literature, music, movies, software, video games, and photos have certain rights under U.S. copyright law to prevent the importation of goods which were intended for distribution in another country. Importation of such products into the United States without permission may be an infringement. This may be true even if the good is a genuine copy and legal to distribute in the other country.
Bearing this in mind, we ask that you remove this and any other listings for this release of the program. It is not our desire to pursue this through E-Bay’s Verified Rights Owner Program or other means, but we will act if necessary to protect our rights and those of the licensors (namely the BBC and Paramount Pictures). Thank you very much.
Donald Klees
Sales Manager
Acorn Media Publishing
Is this guy right?
Importation of such products into the United States without permission may be an infringement.
“may” be an infringement? this guy writes a letter and doesn’t even know if what he is writing is true? i say screw it. let them send you case law citing where this is wrong before you bother doing anything about it.
as far as buying/selling dvds coded in different regions, i don’t think it’s a problem. i’ve seen international verson dvds on amazon, etc. plenty of times, so the idea that they are created for a certain market seems rather stupid. the company is merely trying to charge different prices for the same product
Well, I emailed eBay to see what they say, but this seems crazy to me. I mean, what if someone moved to North America from the UK and kept his UK coded machine? They would be entitled to import the DVD for their own use, right? I’m not sure I’m seeing the difference here.
I’m no lawyer, but it sounds like an empty threat to me too. This is no different than you selling any used DVD on e-bay, no matter where you got it. You bought it, you own it, you’re not any kind of wholesaler or retailer. If you’d bought a dozen of the DVDs overseas and posted that, they might have some kind of case. I say screw em. Thanks for asking; that’ll be $350.00. Oh, I forgot, I’m no lawyer. Make it $35.00.
Errmmm. Well. Not simple.
Selling a used CD or DVD would pose no problems. Selling a new one could.
Think about the book trade for a moment. An author sells the rights to his novel. But he doesn’t sell worldwide rights. He sells country by country. ( Typically, in the English language, there’s UK rights, Commonwealth rights and US rights . The US spelling is different of course, so requires a different edition .)
The important cross over is that he has sold to someone else the right to distribute his work in a certain territory. Hopefully to someone who has a good distribution network, and who will invest money in promoting the work in that territory.
Now, DVD’s are indeed different, with only a few zones rather than the multitude of different languages in the book trade. ( One reason being that a DVD will come in many languages, but not all possible languages on one DVD …..a number of different collections of languages for different regions .)
However, the right to distribute the DVD is often sold to different people in different zones. So the letter isn’t really about protecting the basic copyright on the DVD in a particular zone. It’s about protecting the distribution agreement for that zone.
And as such entirely legal. ( Your not being allowed to sell it that is .)
Whether they would take action about someone selling a dozen DVD’s is moot. But there have been cases here in the EU ( notably Levi’s jeans and recently one of the online CD distributors ) where the copyright holder is allowed to limit grey or cross border imports.
And no I’m not a lawyer so this information is worth precisely what you’re paying for it.
Although a link when I get the blog up would be nice
I say you’re wrong, Jeffro, since the UK version of the movie would clearly use the UK versions of things like “recognise”. “Recognize”, “recognise”…surely you can see the diff?
OTOH, Acorn must be in some serious financial straits if they’ve got barristers scanning eBay for schlubs selling DVDs.
PS The use of “barrister” above prohibits the distribution of this comment in North America. Region 13 versions are available thru TFG Enterprises.
wow, how much were you gonna get for the thing that has Klees & co all het up, and how many did you have on the (black) market? I didn’t figure you for one of those knock-off artists…
e hem; from business experience with journalism and copyright lawyerly bs: seriously (and the money part of the above was serious) these folks need to look busy, and you are the target. plus, you are a verrrrrryyyyyy easy target, since they don’t have to use the courts, just twist eBay’s relatively weak wrist a bit. not like they expect you to go on the heavy defensive with law firm #2 or anything. heck, if you’re selling on eBay, you know where to make your buck and where not to waste it.
you can tell them to naff off, but eBay will probably toe the line. unless eBay finds it’s not in their interest to limit trade of this sort (which if they had a brain in their head they would deduce quickly). sucks to be a test case, but you could try to convince eBay’s reps. if they have a lot of similar merch on the line, they might not want to set a precedent that separates them from so much dinero.
the sad part of law as it stands is that it is more about bucks to hire the big guns than it is about purpose, such as protecting a copyright. a chess game using whatever flog’s at hand. and, of course, to demonstrate Klees’s transparency, one must look like one is a meaningful and effective watchdog to those who hire you for “security.”
clearly free advise, worth what you paid and hopefully then some, with a catch—I wanna know how it all turns out!
What I did was open it, played it once, and now I’m selling it used, which I believe is fine. I have a few copies—I bought one for my private collection and bought 3 extra to sell online (buying more brought down the price of shipping from the UK). Each one I’ll open and play once.
I just had copyright class, and I can point you to 42 U.S.C. s 602.
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/602.html
In short, I think they’re right.
Note: this is not legal advice, and should not be considered as such. Neither does this comment establish a lawyer-client relationship, so nothing you tell me will be protected in case of an investigation. I am not a member of the bar (yet) and am not licensed to practice. If you want legal advice, you should talk to an attorney specializing in this area.
Scott,
“PS The use of “barrister” above prohibits the distribution of this comment in North America. Region 13 versions are available thru TFG Enterprises.”
The incorrect use of ‘barrister’ shows that it is in fact not a Region 2 comment and can be distributed in North America.
Barristers are UK (and maybe Canadian?) trial lawers. Solicitors are lawyers, although oddly enough you can be arrested for soliciting.
so, jeff, did you ever get any real help?
damn. there’s that chick again.