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<blockquote data-quote="Dr. Harry" data-source="post: 1559796" data-attributes="member: 5468">What this comes down to is the action, not the intention.&nbsp; (Although the intention might have an effect on the penalty, if you can convince a judge that you are telling the truth.)&nbsp;&nbsp; If you shoplift a book with the full intention of simply browsing through it that night to sneak it back in the morning, you are still going to be arrested if you are caught with it that night, or if you are found with a photocopy that you made that night in order to &quot;browse through it some more&quot;.&nbsp; The difference would only be between which form of theft you would be charged for, shoplifting or copyright infringement.&nbsp;&nbsp; Yes, your view does look overly simplistic.&nbsp; You might be able to see my view in a more realistic light by moving away from the idea that it is feasible to set up a legal system in which it is what you planned to do that is more important than what, actually, you did.&nbsp; Yes, when previewing material it does matter if it is in the store or not, as in the store the &quot;previewing&quot; is still with the implied consent of the merchant.&nbsp; (&quot;Hey you!&nbsp; This isn't a library, y'know!&quot;)&nbsp;&nbsp; Additionally, if the person in question is downloading the material from someone commiting copyright infringement by posting it in the first place, then your scenario should be changed to someone taking an illegal copy of the material from a person in the parking lot with the assumption that you will throw the copy away if you don't want to buy the product.&nbsp; If you were found with the material that night, good luck convincing a judge that you stole it for purely altruistic reasons to help the company involved!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dr. Harry, post: 1559796, member: 5468"] What this comes down to is the [i][b]action[/b][/i], not the intention. (Although the intention might have an effect on the penalty, if you can convince a judge that you are telling the truth.) If you shoplift a book with the full intention of simply browsing through it that night to sneak it back in the morning, you are still going to be arrested if you are caught with it that night, or if you are found with a photocopy that you made that night in order to "browse through it some more". The difference would only be between which form of theft you would be charged for, shoplifting or copyright infringement. Yes, your view does look overly simplistic. You might be able to see my view in a more realistic light by moving away from the idea that it is feasible to set up a legal system in which it is what you planned to do that is more important than what, actually, you did. Yes, when previewing material it [b]does[/b] matter if it is in the store or not, as in the store the "previewing" is still with the implied consent of the merchant. ("Hey you! This isn't a library, y'know!") Additionally, if the person in question is downloading the material from someone commiting copyright infringement by posting it in the first place, then your scenario should be changed to someone taking an illegal copy of the material from a person in the parking lot with the assumption that you will throw the copy away if you don't want to buy the product. If you were found with the material that night, good luck convincing a judge that you stole it for purely altruistic reasons to help the company involved! [/QUOTE]

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