Sony has recalled the startup software that accompanies the 1.25 million Playstation 2 consoles that have been sold in Japan, following the discovery of a bug that lets the consoles play foreign DVDs which break copyright laws.

"We have initiated an exchange of the startup software in Japan, as we found that by pressing several buttons, cosumers could play DVDs from other regions," explained a spokesperson for Sony. "The exchange is on a voluntary basis, but all Playstation 2s shipped from now on will come with the revised startup disk."

"We wish to stress, however, that this is a utility disk recall and not a product recall of the console," added the spokesperson.

Sony said the hiccup will not affect the launch of the Playstation 2 in Europe which is slated for this autumn.

It is possible that Sony will have to deal with legal action from US movie studios for breaking the copyright on DVDs sold in Japan due to the utility disk bug.

Japanese gamers with the illegitimate utility software disk can exchange it via mail or visit a store that sells Playstation 2 consoles.