US Patent 7765158 Playback apparatus and server apparatus

A playback apparatus judges whether a region code assigned to a BD-ROM matches a region code assigned to the playback apparatus. When the judgment result is in the affirmative, the playback apparatus plays back the content recorded on the optical disc. When the judgment result is in the negative, the playback apparatus does not play back the content, except when an exceptional playback is authorized. The exceptional playback is authorized when a combination of the content identifier of the content to be played back and the apparatus region code satisfies a predetermined condition defined by the owner of the rights of the content.