[LINK] Theft, copyright, larceny... (was: In other news....)

[Brendan Scott]

Sylvano wrote:
> Greetings all,


> Copyright is a legal protection to the unauhorised copying of a work
> and so violating copyright to gain an unauthorised copy of a work is
> theft.

The trouble with all of this is that it isn't theft.  That is, it is not "dishonestly appropriating property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it"

...this being the definition that the Butterworths Australian Legal Dictionary gives.  It cites s 72 of the Victorian Crimes Act 1958, but, as I understand it, reflects common law on theft.

So while the statement: "whether committed with a gun or a keyboard, theft is theft." is  true, it would not appear to be of any application where someone is involved in copyright infringement.  


Brendan