DVD Regions
- Thread starter Skyfire
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Soldato
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Yes 
Strictly speaking - no.
Assuming you are selling them in the U.K. and the disks have not been passed by the BBFC it is strcitly speaking illegal to sell any unrated material in the UK (unless the R1 release is a carbon copy of the R2 UK release it's counted as unrated I beleive, even if the difference is just one trailer*), check the BBFC rules regarding unrated materia
(you're allowed to import it for personal use, but not loan it out, or sell it afterwards).
However you're more likely to have problems with Ebay shutting the auction down due to complaints from the R2 UK rights holders (it always amazes me that Ebay wil go after real R1 coded disks, but ignore the legions of sellers of blatent pirated discs).
*All parts of a DVD have to be rated.
Assuming you are selling them in the U.K. and the disks have not been passed by the BBFC it is strcitly speaking illegal to sell any unrated material in the UK (unless the R1 release is a carbon copy of the R2 UK release it's counted as unrated I beleive, even if the difference is just one trailer*), check the BBFC rules regarding unrated materia
(you're allowed to import it for personal use, but not loan it out, or sell it afterwards).However you're more likely to have problems with Ebay shutting the auction down due to complaints from the R2 UK rights holders (it always amazes me that Ebay wil go after real R1 coded disks, but ignore the legions of sellers of blatent pirated discs).
*All parts of a DVD have to be rated.
Soldato
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Werewolf said:
For the simple fact that you are able to search ebay for DVD regions 1 - 6 I thought it was legal
However, what you said does make a lot of sense and you certainly see enough illegal copies etc being sold!
Are you sure about that?Werewolf said:Strictly speaking - no.
Assuming you are selling them in the U.K. and the disks have not been passed by the BBFC it is strcitly speaking illegal to sell any unrated material in the UK (unless the R1 release is a carbon copy of the R2 UK release it's counted as unrated I beleive, even if the difference is just one trailer*), check the BBFC rules regarding unrated materia
However you're more likely to have problems with Ebay shutting the auction down due to complaints from the R2 UK rights holders (it always amazes me that Ebay wil go after real R1 coded disks, but ignore the legions of sellers of blatent pirated discs).
*All parts of a DVD have to be rated.
If it's not done as part of a business, and if the "supply" is not for "reward", you'd be OK, as they are classed as exempt. So, unless you've got something else in mind, I'd query the "loan it out" bit .... providing you don't loan it as part of a business.
As for selling unrated material, I agree. Technically, it's illegal. I highly doubt anything would be done about someone disposing of personal property .... providing you weren't disposing of hundreds a week at the local car boot sale. THAT would raise Trading Standards eyebrows.
Soldato
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Feek said:
A lot of music DVD's are region free.
Sequoia said:
Looking at the BBFC wording again (it's been a while since i last looked at it), it does appear to be ambiguiously worded (we're allowed to import them provided they are "soley for personal use", I guess it depends if loaning them to friends is classed as personal use
)Sorry for that.
Werewolf said:Looking at the BBFC wording again (it's been a while since i last looked at it), it does appear to be ambiguiously worded (we're allowed to import them provided they are "soley for personal use", I guess it depends if loaning them to friends is classed as personal use
It seems to be a couple of distinct issues. Loaning is fine if doing it is not part of a business, but not allowed if it is. If I ran a bookshop, for instance, I can't even loan unrated material, even without charge, because it's part of a business operation, even though not income-generating.
I agree the BBFC site isn't entirely clear .... so I had a chat with a nice lady at the BBFC. She confirmed pretty much what I posted here, but did point out that :-
1) She wasn't a lawyer
2) The BBFC aren't the enforcement arm, Trading Standards are.
So, as I understand it :-
- if part of a business, just about any form of supply (sale, hire, loan, etc) is illegal.
- if not part of a business, supply for reward is illegal, but not likely to be acted on
- if not part of a business, disposal not for reward, including personal loan, is OK.
At least, I think that about covers it.
I think I can forgive you .... this time.Werewolf said:
