New York's
Second Circuit Court of Appeals has decided that computer code cannot be stolen after acquitting former
Goldman Sachs programmer Sergey Aleynikov. He'd been charged with property
theft and economic espionage which carried an eight year prison sentence, but left court a free man after serving just a year of his term. The case hinged upon the definition of both property and economic espionage, and the court found that code, being an intangible, couldn't be property that's capable of being stolen within the definition of the statute -- affirming a state of affairs that's been in place since the British case of
Oxford v Moss from 1979. Just as a warning: the Judges advised Congress to amend the relevant legislation in order to prevent thefts of this nature in the future, so we'd hold back on any big data-heists you've got planned.
US Court: Code isn't property, therefore it can't be stolen originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Apr 2012 09:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
Digg |
Wired, Decision (PDF) |
Email this |
Comments
Fitbit just won a legal ruling invalidating the patents Jawbone was using to block it from importing its foreign-made fitness bands to the US. The ruling reduces the chance for Fitbit to face an import ban from the US International Trade Commission,...
