DeCSS, crypto, law, and economics

[Sandy Harris]

John Gilmore wrote:

>For "normal" products, market segmentation is neither
>forbidden by law nor protected by law.  ...  The law is silent on
>the issue.
>  
>
>
>This is false.  Market segmentation by country is deliberately
>outlawed by "free trade" laws and treaties, which exist to benefit
>consumers by letting them import whatever products they want from
>other countries.
>
>For example, in New Zealand, the DVD region-code system was
>found to violate their free-trade laws, and therefore New Zealand
>never permitted one-region players to be sold there.
>
Can you cite a reference for that? I saw a claim about it on the 
opendvd.org
web site some time back and tried to confirm by talking to the NZ embassy
in Canada and then to someone in NZ that they referred me to. No-one I
spoke to knew of such a law or ruling.

New Zealanders I've spoken to do say players sold there are typically
region-free.

Australia's Competition Commissioner has done some good
stuff on this:
http://www.accc.gov.au//fs-search.htm

To quote two speeches from that site:

Difficulties between the pro-competitive community and Intellectual Property
Mr Ross Jones, Commissioner
Australian Competition & Consumer Commission

| Australian consumers are currently suffering from an international cartel that
| restricts their access to digital versatile discs (DVDs). The cartel, headed
| by major film studios in agreement with the manufacturers of DVD players, has
| divided the world into regions. This ensures that DVDs on sale in Australia
| will only function on a DVD player licensed for region 4 that includes Australia.
| The stated aim is to protect cinema ticket sales by preventing people viewing
| movies on DVDs in their homes before distribution to cinemas. The Australian
| subsidiaries of US film companies have been requested by the Commission to 
| explain their actions. It will then decide what action can be taken.

Globalisation and Competition Policy
Professor Allan Fels, Chairman
Australian Competition & Consumer Commission

| The Commission has requested the Australian subsidiaries of United States film
| companies to explain why their regional restrictions on DVDs should not be deemed
| a breach of the Trade Practices Act 1974. ...
|
| The Commission believes RPC is anti-competitive with Australian consumers lacking
| a choice of DVD videos and possibly paying higher prices.

These documents are a couple of years old. Does anyone have more recent news
from Oz? In particular, how did the cartel respond to these questions 
and has the
Commission actually taken any action against them?



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