Re:Copyright infringement, NOT THEFT!!! (Score 2, Informative)

Copyright infringement doesn't fit into the legal definition of theft. Black's Law Dictionary defines "theft" as "[t]he felonious taking and removing of another's personal property with the intent of depriving the true owner of it." This is essentially the same as common law larceny. "Infringement," by contrast, is "[a]n act that interferes with one of the exclusive rights of a patent, copyright, or trademark owner." This is clearly something quite different than theft. Also, don't forget that theft is a crime, but most small-scale copyright infringement is not. The words "theft of intellectual property" have indeed been used by courts to describe copyright infringement, but only very rarely. Westlaw turned up only 18 uses of this term, and mostly in unreported cases. I really don't think it's that common in IP law, except maybe when used by attorneys representing the recording and film industries, who are trying to influence the public lexicon by conflating the two legal concepts.