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The case that decided information can't be stolen dates from 1987. Tim Send a noteboard - 20/01/2011 09:35:31 AM
Grant v Allan 1987 JC 71. In short, an employee was prosecuted for making copies of confidential information to sell to his employer's business rivals. He said "this isn't a crime", and the sheriff (first-instance judge) rejected his argument, but on appeal the High Court said he was right.

By the way, in Scots criminal law the prosecution doesn't have to name the crime it thinks you've committed. It just has to say what it claims you did, and if the charge discloses any crime, it will be relevant. In this case that is precisely how the prosecution went about it: they didn't mention the word "theft" at all. So what this case means is that copying confidential information isn't a crime at all, not just that it isn't theft.

However, it is totally uncontroversial that what he allegedly did constituted the delict of "breach of confidence".

(You'll note that I didn't say he actually did it. This is because he successfully defended himself by saying "what I'm accused of isn't a crime", so the prosecution never got a chance to prove he did it.)
Vigilantibus non dormientibus jura subveniunt.

—Nous disons en allemand : le guerre, le mort, le lune, alors que 'soleil' et 'amour' sont du sexe féminin : la soleil, la amour. La vie est neutre.

—La vie ? Neutre ? C'est très joli, et surtout très logique.
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I haven't been able to read the credits for TV shows in years. - 20/01/2011 03:51:40 AM 1043 Views
Ignorance of the law is not a valid defence *NM* - 21/01/2011 01:21:25 PM 572 Views
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Re: How do you figure that? - 21/01/2011 09:09:19 PM 1201 Views
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Re: How do you figure that? - 22/01/2011 08:33:04 PM 1563 Views
What is an imaginary island? - 23/01/2011 04:47:40 AM 1180 Views
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A lot of it's volume. - 19/01/2011 05:32:03 PM 1113 Views
Your argument lacks merit. - 19/01/2011 05:50:11 PM 1132 Views
Agreed. - 19/01/2011 06:01:13 PM 998 Views
Both terms lack accuracy in this case really. - 19/01/2011 06:37:29 PM 1399 Views
That's what I mean right there. - 19/01/2011 06:48:38 PM 1167 Views
The punishable crime is - 21/01/2011 01:57:54 PM 1324 Views
Re: Your argument lacks merit. - 20/01/2011 03:40:20 PM 1081 Views
In my opinion - 19/01/2011 09:22:29 PM 1118 Views
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We need to distinguish between a crime and a tort. - 19/01/2011 10:17:30 PM 1233 Views
Very interesting. - 19/01/2011 10:28:35 PM 1258 Views
Another scrabble word for you is "delict". That's what we call tort in Scotland. - 19/01/2011 10:37:08 PM 1172 Views
I saw. - 19/01/2011 10:41:27 PM 1055 Views
It won't get you very many points. - 19/01/2011 10:37:26 PM 1014 Views
I would set me up for tortellini. - 19/01/2011 10:40:45 PM 1039 Views
Also in most circumstances you could use "trot" instead. *NM* - 19/01/2011 10:42:26 PM 641 Views
Very nice legal overview, also I like Scotland's approach a lot - 19/01/2011 11:21:47 PM 1076 Views
The case that decided information can't be stolen dates from 1987. - 20/01/2011 09:35:31 AM 1865 Views
Unfortunately, damages can result in thousands of dollars for one song - 22/01/2011 08:19:40 PM 1007 Views

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