Disclosed is a method of regionalizing a product for specific markets for
the purposes of language localization, insuring compliance with local
laws and standards, or theft prevention. The method is applicable to
goods comprising an initially-sold machine or device and consumable items
required by the machine or device. The method comprises regionalizing the
consumable items; the first-installed consumable used in the machine or
device then causes the machine or device to be regionalized, such that
the machine or device subsequently only accepts consumables with the same
regionalization. Also disclosed are apparatus to implement the method.