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Posted October 08, 2014 04:42 · last edited October 08, 2014 04:43

I prefer supporting NZ based companies where I can, local employment, local support, local warranties, etc. However it is not illegal to stream from overseas (which as above I do not currently do):

https://www.consumer.org.nz/articles/the-pros-and-cons-of-lightbox wrote:

We consulted with a number of copyright law experts and all of them agreed that accessing Netflix from New Zealand is in no way illegal. For this section I'm going to use "Netflix" to represent all online streaming services not based in New Zealand such as Hulu and Amazon Prime, but also services from Australia and the UK.

First, as we have mentioned many times in the past, in New Zealand you are allowed to legally circumvent geoblocks. For example, you are allowed to buy a multizone DVD player in order to watch Zone 1 DVDs that are meant only for the US. Similarly if you find content online that says "this is not available in your country", you are legally allowed to get around that block.

The broadcast rights for a lot of the content on Netflix is owned by local providers such as Sky or TVNZ. New Zealand has parallel importing laws which allow you to bypass the local distributor. This is true for the physical goods that you might buy from The Warehouse and it's also true for digital products, such as movies and TV shows online.

There is no differentiation in the law between physical and digital objects. So in essence watching Netflix is simply a new form of parallel importing.

The main reason accessing Netflix isn't illegal though is that you are paying for it. The content you are accessing is being sold to you legitimately. It is in no way piracy.

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Ryan edited October 08, 2014 04:43

First, I prefer supporting NZ based companies where I can, local employment, local support, local warranties, etc. However it is not illegal to stream from overseas (which I do not do):

https://www.consumer.org.nz/articles/the-pros-and-cons-of-lightbox wrote:

We consulted with a number of copyright law experts and all of them agreed that accessing Netflix from New Zealand is in no way illegal. For this section I'm going to use "Netflix" to represent all online streaming services not based in New Zealand such as Hulu and Amazon Prime, but also services from Australia and the UK.

First, as we have mentioned many times in the past, in New Zealand you are allowed to legally circumvent geoblocks. For example, you are allowed to buy a multizone DVD player in order to watch Zone 1 DVDs that are meant only for the US. Similarly if you find content online that says "this is not available in your country", you are legally allowed to get around that block.

The broadcast rights for a lot of the content on Netflix is owned by local providers such as Sky or TVNZ. New Zealand has parallel importing laws which allow you to bypass the local distributor. This is true for the physical goods that you might buy from The Warehouse and it's also true for digital products, such as movies and TV shows online.

There is no differentiation in the law between physical and digital objects. So in essence watching Netflix is simply a new form of parallel importing.

The main reason accessing Netflix isn't illegal though is that you are paying for it. The content you are accessing is being sold to you legitimately. It is in no way piracy.