Avrupa birliği rekabet kuralları karşısında dvd bölge kodu koruması uygulaması: teknik, ekonomik ve hukuki bir değerlendirme

Görsel içeriğe sahip DVD’ler, 21. yüzyıl ev eğlenceleri arasında hızlı bir yükseliş göstermiş ve Betamax, VHS, VCD gibi medya formatlarını geride bırakarak, dünya çapında çok yüksek satış rakamlarına ulaşmıştır. DVD’lerin yakaladığı bu başarının nedenlerinden biri de önceki medya formatlarında bulunmayan “bölge kodu koruması” adlı bir sistemdir. Bu koruma sonucu DVD’ler sadece kendileri için tasarlanmış bölge koduna uygun bir oynatıcı cihazda çalıştırılabilmekte, farklı bir bölge koduyla donatılmış oynatıcı cihazlarda çalıştırılmak istendiğinde ise içeriklerine erişim imkanı vermemektedirler. Hollywood menşeli film şirketlerinin geli6tirdiği ve DVD format ve logosunu ürünlerinde kullanabilmek için DVD oynatıcı cihaz üreticilerinin de lisans sözleşmeleri vasıtasıyla benimsemek durumunda kaldıkları bölge kodu korumasıyla dünya, coğrafi koşulların gerektirdiği hiçbir gerekçe bulunmadan, altı farklı bölgeye ayrılmıştır. Fiyat ayrımcılığı, ürün farklılaştırması ve telif hakları gibi iktisadi gerekçelerle gerçekleştirilen bu uygulamayla film şirketleri; dünya çapında sinema salonlarının varlıklarını devam ettirebilmelerinin sağlanabildiğini, filmlerin gösterime girmiş ülkelerden DVD’lerinin alınarak gösterime girmemiş ülkelerde izlenilmesinin engellenebildiğini ve filmler için getirilen sınıflandırma ve yaş sınırlamalarını içeren ulusal standartlara tam uyum sağlanabildiğini iddia etmektedirler. Henüz hiçbir rekabet otoritesi ya da mahkeme kararı ile bir rekabet ihlali olduğu kanıtlanmamış olsa da, bölge kodu korumasının önünde pazar, bölge ve mü6teri paylaşımı, serbest ticaretin kısıtlanması, paralel ithalatın engellenmesi ve haksız rekabet olmak üzere birtakım yasal sorunların olduğu görülmektedir.

The case of dvd region protection code vis-a-vis the eu competition rules: a technical, economical and legal analysis

Nothing has impacted the home entertainment in 21st century quite like DVDs, by leaving behind the older media formats like Betamax, VHS, VCD and reaching tremendous amounts of worldwide sales. However, one reason behind the success of DVDs, inter alia, comes from its unique system called “region code protection”. As a consequence of this protection, DVDs shall only be played in a player that complies with their region code and does not allow access to their content when attempted to be played in players having a different region code. Developed by Hollywood based film studios and undertaken to be adopted by DVD player manufacturers through their license agreements, the world is divided into six major regions, in a way that lacks any geographical justification. Price discrimination, product differentiation and copyright comprise the economical grounds of region protection, with whose help the film studios contend that the cinemas are able to carry on their business, the theatrical exhibition of a film which has not yet been released in cinemas across that country is able to be prevented from imported DVDs and compliance with classification and age restriction standards is perfectly achieved. Although nothing has yet been proven before a competition authority or a court; region code protection amounts to the legal issues like market, territory and customer sharing, restriction of free trade, hindering of parallel import and unfair competition.

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