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Comment by gakada | Hacker News Reader

That would be a breach of the contract between designer and the company. If you quote someone a rate, they agree, you do the work, but they don't pay you, then you can sue them regardless of whether a copyrightable work was created.

Copyright infringement without breach of contract is more like people stealing the Transmit logo https://panic.com/extras/ripoff/

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Isn't it breach of contract when you copy tv show, when it clearly states that copying of that show is prohibited? When you buy that dvd, book or whatever it is, you agree to the 'terms' which usually say - copy in any form shape or size prohibited.

Actually, when you buy a dvd or book, you usually aren't bound by any terms in any booklet acompanying it or printed in the book or whatever. If at all, you are bound by any terms that you agreed to (which in particular would require you to be aware of them and to have had the opportunity to read them and all that). Which in the case of a typical sales contract that's the result of buying something in a shop means that pretty much the only thing you are bound by is your agreement to pay the price that you agreed to. Stuff that you get to read afterwards cannot become part of the contract that you previously agreed to unless you explicitly were to agree to adding those additional terms afterwards. Also, that sales contract is between you and the shop.

So, no, actually, whatever you do with that book or dvd, if you paid the price you agreed to, you almost always can do with it whatever you like, unless it is illegal. But just as using a chainsaw you bought and paid for to murder someone is not a breach of contract, so is not copying a book you bought.

And in any case, a breach of contract is not theft. It's a breach of contract. That's why we have a separate term for it. Just as destruction of property is not theft. It's destruction of property.

Plus, if you download an unauthorized copy somewhere, you most likely don't have a contract with anyone regarding the thing that you are downloading, so you could not possibly be in violation of the terms of that non-existent contract.

Shitty click wrap that nobody should care about. Why are you bootlicking so hard?

Isn't it breach of contract when you copy tv show, when it clearly states that copying of that show is prohibited?

Yes! And breach of contract is not theft.

And presumably, if I pirate something, I never entered into that contract to begin with.

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