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‘Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ DVD design has proven confusing to some

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March 21, 2012 at 3:17 p.m. EDT

The design of David Fincher's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" DVD has proven confusing to some would-be move watchers, who believed they had received a pirated copy of the film.

The Telegraph points us to this warning Redbox — the rental kiosk company — put online: "RENTERS: The handwritten look on the disc of this movie is legitimate and is intended to look like a burned DVD."

On its News and Views blog, Midwest Tape — a media distributor that works with public libraries — issued a warning about the design: "This is the authentic DVD direct from Sony Pictures. Sony designed the DVD and its packaging to reflect the theme of the movie and its popular hacker protagonist, Lisbeth Salander." They issued an apology for any confusion.

A commenter on the Midwest Tape’s site confirmed that Redbox’s warning is necessary: “i ALMOST had a fit and returned this to Redbox... thanks for the post.”

Of course, this pirated design isn't new. The DVD for "Borat" looks very similar, as does the cover of System of a Down's "Steal This Album!" Still, it makes sense that Sony would do this, considering Salander's hacking ways. And if maybe — just maybe — the company was also trying to create a little buzz around the DVD's release, their mission is accomplished.

Update: Now Amazon has placed a disclaimer on their site: "It has come to our attention that there has been some confusion on the DVD disc art as it appears to look like a bootlegged copy. Please note that the disc art is in fact the final approved disc art provided to us by the filmmakers."