Unlocking your cell phone is fully legal in the U.S.

In 2006 the Register of Copyrights introduced new rules to 1998′s Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), these rules,were to the benefit mobile phone subscribers.

Of the six proposed exemptions (the largest number to date), the one that arguably affects U.S. consumers the most is number five on the list, which covers:

“Computer programs in the form of firmware that enable wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telephone communication network, when circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network.”

In other words, it is now permissible for anyone to “unlock” a phone tied to one network and use it with another; as long as they own the phone.

Prior to this ruling, the act of taking a phone with you after switching carriers was considered an infringement of the old carrier’s property rights. Consequently, customers were often forced to either return or throw away their old phones-that, or pay exorbitant fees to get a new phone along with their new plan.

According to the Copyright Office, this latest exemption was passed because it was determined that the software which restricts consumers from accessing their phone’s firmware has less to do with actual copyright law and more to do with business models.

The explanation states that: “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,”

“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.”

While this was certainly good news for consumers who wanted to use the same phone even if they opt for a different service provider, the cellular carriers had a different reaction.

In the past the cellular networks, had said that the software on their hand sets should be considered a copyrighted work. If someone tries to unlock it for use on a different network is violating DRM and breaking the statutory prohibition on circumvention, or so the argument goes.

In the U.S. network carriers inciting customers by offering discounts and instant savings on new phones, but only if the customer signs multi-year agreements that have high termination charges. In addition, most new phones come with “handset activation charges,” which frequently take away from the customers’ ultimate savings.

However unlocked phones that are not attached to any carrier tend to be twice as expensive as they would be with a new carrier contract.

This may have reduced the number of people from buying unlocked phones, today there is still a expanding “grey market” for unlocked cell phones…much to the chagrin of the wireless industry.

The CTIA-a group that supports and lobbies for wireless carriers such as Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint-was among those who submitted unsolicited statements against this new laws, arguing that unlocked phones directly result in infringement.

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