Am I allowed to take files I created off someone else&#39;s computer?
<p>I recently created a website for a friend of mine, but after some issues between the two of us I decided to remote control their computer (which I had permission to do) and took the files off.</p>

<ul>
<li>Am I allowed to do so?</li>
<li>Are the files my intellectual property that I have rights to?</li>
</ul>

<p>I'm quite young and don't quite understand a lot of legal 'stuff.'</p>

<p>I think the facts you describe might or might not create a problem for you.</p>

<p>My sense of things is the best course of action might be to try and negotiate a settlement regarding the disposition of the files in question. </p>

<p>See my comments.</p>

<p>It's all about the user account that you used when you created the files ie the owner. </p>

<p>Assuming there was no written contract between you and your friend which might override the default circumstances: </p>

<ul>
<li><p>If you or your friend has created a user account for you on his computer/server then <strong><em>you have the right to do whatever you want/can with the files you create</em></strong> as long as you don't override the access control rules (ie the privileges assigned to your account by the OS) by exploiting some privileges escalation vulnerability.</p></li>
<li><p>If you used somebody's else account to create the files then you have a very small chance proving that the files contents are actually yours and you have the copyrights for them and you decided to take action and remove them instead of complaining to the authorities which might reduce the punishment for the unauthorized act you performed on your friends computer.   </p></li>
</ul>

intellectual-property