Persistant Clone Error Message

[Joeycam]

I think I have found the problem. The original DVD has a small circle (approx 1/4") near the beginning of the disk write surface. It is perfectly round and appears to purposely be there.

My guess is it is a form of mechanical copy protection similar to the holes originally in a lot of software that was on 5 1/2" floppies (back when floppies were indeed floppy).

I've considered trying to rub it out but don't want to ruin the original.

Thanks for your help