Is the region coding of Blu-ray and DVDs legal in Australia?
The 2005 High Court ruling in Stevens v Sony held that the region code in the PlayStation is not a ‘technological protection measure’, and that therefore a modchip for the PlayStation is not a ‘circumvention device’. This means that Sony were not entitled to sue makes and distributors of modchips. It did not, however, mean that region codes were illegal – Sony are still entitled to use region coding (subject to any applicable restrictions of anti-competitive conduct) in their machines.
