The issue of locked or disabled features on handsets made available for sale in the US has been around for long time. At the beginning of 2005, reports surfaced of Verizon Wireless users suing the carrier for disabling the Bluetooth functionality of high-end handsets in an attempt to force customers to use replacement 'paid-for' services provided by Verizon that could be easily and cheaply performed using a Bluetooth connection.

Now the US copyright office has granted cellphone users an exemption from the US DMCA legislation that allows customers to remove software locks on their legally purchased handsets, as:

[T]he Copyright Office determined that consumers aren't able to enjoy full legal use of their handsets because of software locks that wireless providers have been placing to control access to phones' underlying programs.

Which means that people who have partially disabled or function-reduced handsets can now have the full functionality restored, without fear of prosecution, fines or being sent to jail.

Via Textually.org.