The European Competition Commissioner Mario Monti told a
conference in Stockholm,
"as a result of complaints received about
the effects of the regional coding system for DVDs, we have
initiated contacts with the major film production companies… It is
important that, if the complaints are confirmed on the facts, we do
not permit a system which provides greater protection than the
intellectual property rights themselves, where such a system could
be used as a smoke-screen to allow firms to maintain artificially
high prices or to deny choice to consumers."
The EU sent letters last Friday to the seven major DVD
distributors to find out whether this system of regional coding is
used to artificially charge higher prices in the EU than would
otherwise be the case.
Also announced at the Stockholm ‘Competition Day’ was the
commencing of a probe by the EU into the possible anticompetitive
effects of on-line music joint ventures MusicNet and Duet. Mr Monti
stated "These are important cases for the development of music
services offered online to consumers, and there are potentially a
number of issues which merit close examination."
