Jace_A
Second Unit
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2005
- Messages
- 293
100% WRONG.
Bootlegging is piracy; it is theft; it is illegal. Importing a legitimate DVD from another country for your own personal use is none of those things. It is legal in the country you bought it in; it is legal to import it; it is legal to view it. It does not go against the wishes and intentions of the copyright owner because the copyright owner creates the work in the full knowledge that, if that work is pressed on DVD outside the US, then a US consumer can import that disc without breaching the copyright owners rights. In most cases, the copyright owner in external territories is an affiliate or subsidiary of the US copyright owner. In other cases, they have signed deals with the foreign distributor to receive royalties from all sales made by that distributor internationally (including sales to US residents). That is, the copyright owner of the film in the US has authorized its pressing outside the US and understands the consequences of that action. If the US distributor is licensing a film from a foreign territory for sale in the US, then they also understand the consequences of this action, namely that they cannot prevent a US consumer from purchasing a disc from outside the US and importing that disc for personal use.
Do you get the distinction now?