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Is Cell Phone Unlocking Legal?
The last question everyone asks
about cell phone unlocking: is it legal? In Europe, the
answer is generally yes. Though laws differ from country
to country, they tend to favor consumers over companies.
In the United States, the answer is also yes. The U.S.
Copyright Office issues rulings every three years, and
in 2006, they declared that unlocking a cell phone does
not infringe on the copyright of the phone manufacturer
or service provider, and therefore isn't prohibited
[source: Ars Technica].
In the ruling, they suggested that
locking phones to accounts only serves to support a
particular business model. "The underlying activity
sought to be performed by the owner of the handset is to
allow the handset to do what it was manufactured to do
-- lawfully connect to any carrier. This is a
noninfringing activity by the user...the purpose of the
software lock appears to be limited to restricting the
owner's use of the mobile handset to support a business
model, rather than to protect access to a copyrighted
work itself." [source: U.S. Copyright Office].
That ruling could be reversed later
in 2009, but the justification for the original ruling
hasn't changed, so it may stand. However, in 2008, Apple
filed an opposition to the ruling, asking that it be
overturned in 2009. They want jailbreaking iPhones to be
illegal [source: U.S. Copyright Office].
There is one caveat, however.
Unlocking a phone might violate the terms of any
contract you may have signed with your service provider.
If so, you could be subject to whatever penalties are
outlined in the contract, or your service may be cut
off. It's also unclear if it's legal to offer
third-party cell phone unlocking services -- U.S. courts
have not yet ruled on this matter.
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