While I am not a lawyer I happen to be in the middle of a patent protection "issue".

At least in the jurisdictions I know about, and I think it is the same everywhere in this regard, using patented methods at home for personal use is NOT a problem. You are allowed to use a patented technology at home for your own use as far as I know and thus they are not relevant to users of vdr. It is commercial use that patents deal with.

On the other hand...

Decryption technologies have been protected in different countries with EXTRA laws precisely because the normal existing laws did not stop people from using their own data once they paid for it.

As far as I know, the US DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) is the only really strong law of this kind that is current (NOW) in force. I believe it prohibits you from decrypting and decoding any information the manufacturer did not want to to decode, regardless of how easy this is. I believe the related EU Copyright Directive (EUCD) has not been fully approved yet, due to concerns from some member states. I might be wrong though, as I have not heard anything about it for a while. It is also a very restrictive law based on pressure from WIPO.

This is a complicated law and I do not pretend to be an expert on it, but I have heard enough informed opinion to know it is very restrictive and, in my opinion, if you take it literally is it is a severe limit on personal freedom in the interest of corporate profit. I believe it's limitations include decoding (i.e. playing) a DVD that you may have purchased yourself on a device that does not have the licensed software (for example a linux box). It was recently used in a (US) court case to stop a company from enabling Lexmark printers to use 3rd part ink containers since it involved opening the boxes. I think it is possible that if you modified the firmware in your computer and/or video card, you are in violation (if you live in the USA). Note that while the DMCA is very restrictive, not that many people have been taken to court under it, as far as I know.

Greg

More information here:

Popular article (focus on England) http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/08/28/ exemptions_exempted_in_europes_dmca/

Europe in general (out of date, but good) http://www.fipr.org/copyright/guide/

Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society (long tedious, boring, the official stuff) http://europa.eu.int/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod! CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=32001L0029&model=guichett