That's exactly right. Starting in October 2010, both card brands have announced what's called a liability shift. That is, if you went to a merchant with a chip card, you entered your PIN, and then said that it wasn't you, the merchant would be liable for that transaction if they don't accept chip transactions. That's done, presumably, to motivate the merchant to roll out the chip devices.
On May 26th, 2009. See this statement in context.