[Avodah] Copyright and e-daf

[Moshe Yehuda Gluck]

> <<"Taking" implies that they are losing something. They are not.>>
> 
> <Exactly.  More to the point, gezel requires that something tangible
> leave the reshut of the owner and enter the reshut of the thief, so
> that the owner no longer has its use and enjoyment while the thief
> does have it.  That's the *definition* of theft.  If the owner still
> has just as much after the act as he had before it, then nothing has
> been stolen from him.>
> 
> <<They are losing the ability to profit -- m'nias harevach.>>
> 
> <And here is where your friend is cheating.  He has suddenly switched
> definitions of "loss".  When you copy pages from a web site, the
> owners have not lost anything, in the sense you meant in the previous
> sentence.  They still have everything they had before.  The ability
> to make a profit isn't something they possess, it's not their
> property, and it can't be stolen.  That's why there exists a concept
> of "hasagat gevul", which is derived not from the issur on stealing
> or of cheating, but from the mitzvah of ahavat yisrael, and "ve'asita
> hayashar vehatov".>
R' EMT:
>      And thus I can copy a disc, tape etc., or photocopy an Artscroll
> sefer, despite the prohibition printed therein, other than dina
> d'malchusa considerations?

He's saying that as far as Gezel is concerned, yes. As far as Hasagas Gevul,
maybe or maybe not.

KT,
MYG