Regional coding: Restraint of trade?

[thisisgil]

Like many others, I'm pretty disappointed with the regional lockout on the Wii, particularly as my Action Replay freeloader no longer works, meaning I can't play about 10 of my GC games on the Wii....

Many US GC titles didn't see the light of day in the UK, in fact, Animal Crossing nearly didn't get a release at all, taking roughly 2 years to appear over here, so for many titles, I've had to purchase them on import just to be able to play them.

I've heard things in the past about Regional coding possibly being a restraint of trade, and IANAL, but I've dug this up online:


Restraint of trade does not apply when:

* There is an interest which needs to be protected. Examples of such interests include business connections and business secrets.
* The restraint is reasonable, i.e. sufficiently protects the interest and goes no further.
* The restraint is not contrary to the public interest (e.g. prevents a physician working in an area where there is a shortage of physicians).

I really can't see a situation where Nintendo's regional coding fulfills any of these requirements, so is there a case to be answered here by Nintendo? Should they freely allow software at least to be imported from region to region?

 

[Audioillity]

the same thing happens on DVD's also theres somthing know as gray imports, this is basically something like bringing in a Jap PSP when they sell UK ones for more, and in this case Sony won a court case to stop these imports.