[LINK] Theft, copyright, larceny...

[Eric Scheid]

On 27/6/07 2:24 PM, "Bernard Robertson-Dunn" <brd at iimetro.com.au> wrote:

> A scenario:
> 
> Joe sells CDs and DVDs for which he gets $10 each (or whatever) Bill copies
> one of Joe's CDs and gives it to Fred. Bill has not stolen any information
> from Joe because Joe still has the information and is not deprived of it.
> However, Joe can be described as having lost the opportunity to sell
> information, not lost the information itself. In this model, Bill has stolen
> something from Joe in exactly the same way as if he had stolen a CD.
> 

Alternative scenario:

Joe is an artist and sells CDs etc of his performances. Bill is also an
artist and also sells CDs etc of his own performances. Jane is hungering for
an hour of entertainment to gift to her nana, and buys one of Bill's CDs
from Bill. Since Jane only has $10 to spend, Joe has now lost the
opportunity to make that same sale.

> To summarise, it's not the information that's gone, it's the opportunity.

Yep.

e.