Quote from: w00ly on September 03, 2011, 11:26:58 PM

These laws would be applicable had intersango not voluntarily relinquished ownership of the coins. When you send bitcoins, you are no longer the owner of those bitcoins. They are therefore not your property and there is no legal right to them. Does everyone forget that these transactions are digitally signed? Intersango "agreed" by signing the coins away to bendavis that they are no longer the owners. Unlike mistakenly sending a tangible item that at the very simplest form you could simply "go and retrieve", once you are no longer the owner of the bitcoin, that's it and nothing can or will be done.

edit: in fact, since bendavis was the owner of the bitcoin after the transactions, i'd say intersango likely opens themselves up for a counter-suit for attempted extortion.

This (transfer vs possession) is interesting discussion (started a new thread for this) that contains some comments from this thread:

Quote

[05:19] it is our property
[05:19] he is merely in possession of it

Quote from: casascius on September 02, 2011, 06:07:32 PM

Not true. The blockchain is a record of who possesses what. It is not a record of ownership or title.

If you send me 100 BTC for safekeeping, or loan me your car, I possess it, but you still own it.

Quote from: copumpkin on September 02, 2011, 10:23:06 PM

http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/164.html

I'll quote the relevant section (164.015):

Quote

(2) Commits theft of property lost, mislaid or delivered by mistake as provided in ORS 164.065;

Quote from: indio007 on September 03, 2011, 03:27:14 AM

Real fast. Bitcoins are network access and certain network authentication services. The legal term is an incorporeal hereditament. Yes they can be stolen. Yes there is title to them. Possession alone passes no title even for negotiable instruments, which happen to construe possession most strongly.

There is no legal or moral excuse for this behavior. At the very least there is UNJUST ENRICHMENT which is a tort.

Anyone claiming otherwise is a fool and an idiot. You are so dependent on the nanny state to define your rights you forget them some rights are strictly sui generis.