It certainly sounds like you bought a Region 1 Disc.

I don't know that it was illegally imported to your country though. At this point, I'm not sure it matters.

As far as I'm aware, you'll find a disclaimer like that on almost all DVDs, not just region 1 ones.
I think it's something to do with trade duties - ie. you can't guarantee that a DVD sold in a territory it wasn't designed for has paid all relevant taxes etc.
It's a very grey area legally, because I buy DVDs from Australia despite the fact that it's illegal for Australian DVDs to be sold abroad, but because I buy them from a shop in Australia, technically it was sold in Australia - the fact it was then posted abroad doesn't seem to count. 
At the very worst, unless Norwegian laws are very strict, you'll find it'll be the seller that's breaking the law (if any), not the buyer.
For example, in my country it's completely legal to own unclassified DVDs, however it's completely illegal to sell them!

Quoting Mithi:

Quote:
legal, illegal, scheißegal! 

This whole matter has a lot of facets, so a simple "legal or illegal" isn't an available answer.

First of all: was it a legit copy or a bootleg in the US. If it is a legit copy there is, in my opinion nothing illegal in shipping it round the world.,

Resale is another matter, because there might be a copyrightholder in Norway and from his point of view this is a parallel import and it colides with his rights. (At least in the EU it would be so, don't know how reasonable Norway handles that)

cya, Mithi

I wouldn't be so willing to hand out legal opinions if I were you. That is, unless you happen to be a judge in your country. Of course, I doubt this because you offered your opinion without knowing a great deal more information.

In order to know if it were illegally imported and do anything about it, Berak would have to research all of the circumstances involved in the transporting of this DVD and be able to prove it in court.

If Berak suspects he has purchased an illegally imported DVD, the most he/she can do is report these suspicions to the proper authorities, not return to the shop he got it from, and let it go at that.

This is why I posted what I said in my earlier post. Then again, he could just simply ask the seller how they got it and take the sellers word for it. Either way, there is little he can do about it other than reporting it and not returning to that seller.

Quoting Dan W:

Quote:
In order to know if it were illegally imported

Well, that is where the fun starts, what exactly would make an import legal? Ownership of the disk? Copyright in the country of origin? Copyright in the destination country?

cya, Mithi, (il)legally importing DVDs for 10 years

Quoting Mithi:

Quote:
legal, illegal, scheißegal! 

First of all: was it a legit copy or a bootleg in the US. If it is a legit copy there is, in my opinion, nothing illegal in shipping it round the world.


cya, Mithi

I'm pretty sure it's a legit copy, and the fact that many US online retailers ship abroad would suggest that the disclaimer on the back is wrong  . I'm not too familiar with R1 DVD's, as my wife always force me to buy DVD's with Norwegian subtitles - however, I have started sneaking some in through the "back door"  and I immediatley reacted to said disclaimer.

Quoting Telecine:

Quote:
It depends on what the law in your neck of the woods says. In Australia we have passed legislation specifically allowing the parallel importation of DVDs and other material into the country without requiring the permission of the Australian copyright holder. See:

http://www.aar.com.au/pubs/ip/copymar03.htm

My recollection is that it is modelled on EU legislation but you would have to check.

So, no problem for me, don't know about you.

I would be surprised however if parallel importation of DVDs is not allowed in your country.

I would assume that a serious online retailer (bought TMNT from www.dvdstrax.com) have all their legal issues in order, but it still seems to be a violation regarding US legislation as the disclaimer clearly states that it's not allowed to sell outside USA and Canada... 

Had a quick look around....it looks like Denmark and possibily the rest of the EU are still in the dark ages on this topic:

http://www.ks.dk/english/publications/publications-2005/2005-06-08-competition-report-2005/chapter-5-music-films-and-console-games/

As for Norwegian import rules;

If you order anything from abroad exceeding 16 GBP  - 25 Euro - 34 USD, you'll have to pay a 25% value added tax on the purchase, as well as a declaration fee (about 10 USD).
All good and well some might say, however - this benchmark price for imports has been UNCHANGED since 1972!    Following normal consumer price index (as does every other tax in Norway - only not this particular one) since 1972 the benchmark value should be about 170 GBP - 250 Euro - 340 USD....   

Long live one of the richest countries in the world....