Does returning the DVD make a difference?
Yes.
That's what effectively hindered copy protection on CDs in the US (Walmart and Amazon threw fits with the record companies and any CD with it had to be marked) and it still wasn't going far when Sony screwed up and killed the idea entirely.
Just a note : the movie companies won't listen to you but they'll sure as hell listen to big retailers.
I never heard the whole story about Mr. & Mrs. Smith but didn't you guys eventually get a copy without the protection? I read that the disks were being replaced at one point.
Starforce is another example.
I wondered why the US version of Dreamfall was in a 6 cd set until a friend in England asked me to send him the US version.
The European DVDs had Starforce but they couldn't use it in the US and sell the game.