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Media: The Register explains Why Copying is Not Theft


Source: The Register, 12 August 2003
Submitted by Ann Light

"Copying is Theft - and other legal myths" by Mark Rasch, a former head of the US Justice Department's computer crime unit, is a useful overview of a person's legal status as he or she engages in copying digital material in the States. It distinguishes between material that is owned, and that which is not owned by the person copying it and which parts of the law affect what. Although it is written about the situation in the US, it goes into detail about what is happening to Kazaa, etc and thus has global reach.

Anyway, copying isn't theft: 'A number of years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt with a man named Dowling, who sold "pirated" Elvis Presley recordings, and was prosecuted for the Interstate Transportation of Stolen Property. The Supremes did not condone his actions, but did make it clear that it was not "theft" - but technically "infringement" of the copyright of the Presley estate, and therefore copyright law, and not anti-theft statutes, had to be invoked.'

 


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The Register: Copying is Theft - and other legal myths

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