On 5/16/06, Peter Hickman <peter / semantico.com> wrote:
> gwtmp01 / mac.com wrote:
> > Are you arguing that the word 'theft' is reserved to describe the
> > misappropriation of tangible goods and therefore doesn't apply to
> > copyright infringement or are you trying to say that there is some
> > ethical difference between the two situations?  I'm confused.
> Theft: If I steal the shirt off your back you no longer have a shirt.
> Copyright infringement: If I steal the design of the shirt on you back
> you still have a shirt.
>
> There is a difference and the case law to support it.

There is a legal difference, yes. I'm not sure that there's a
meaningful *semantic* difference in discussions that do not involve
lawyers or people who deny that intellectual property exists in the
first place. "Steal" is a synonym for "theft." It's still the
misappropriation of something which does not belong to you and you
have not been given permission to use.

This is, however, a matter of semantics that does not answer the real
problem: someone was advocating taking something that does not belong
to them and they were not given permission to use, and preventing a
friend of mine and a person who contributes to the community from
receiving the appropriate compensation for his work.

-austin
-- 
Austin Ziegler * halostatue / gmail.com
               * Alternate: austin / halostatue.ca