The crux of the issue is whether intellectual creations are "property" or not. For people that believe something written can be property, then theft is an appr

The crux of the issue is whether intellectual creations are "property" or not. For people that believe something written can be property, then theft is an appropriate word (theft : the act or crime of stealing). If, OTOH, you believe intellectual creations should not be treated like physical property, then theft is not the correct word. Definitely not clear-cut. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/theft http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/theft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property#The_term_.22intellectual_property.22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property#The_term... "Free Software Foundation founder Richard Stallman argues that, although the term intellectual property is in wide use, it should be rejected altogether, because it "systematically distorts and confuses these issues, and its use was and is promoted by those who gain from this confusion". He claims that the term "operates as a catch-all to lump together disparate laws [which] originated separately, evolved differently, cover different activities, have different rules, and raise different public policy issues" and that it creates a "bias" by confusing these monopolies with ownership of limited physical things, likening them to "property rights"" Economists Boldrin and Levine prefer to use the term "intellectual monopoly" as a more appropriate and clear definition of the concept, which they argue, is very dissimilar from property rights