Steal implies a loss of the physical good: if I steal your car, I get a car and you lose your car. If I steal your money you lose that quantity of cash. If I st

Steal implies a loss of the physical good: if I steal your car, I get a car and you lose your car. If I steal your money you lose that quantity of cash. If I steal your idea... what have you lost? The opportunity to make money? But it's not like I took your idea and wiped the memory from your brain. So steal I don't think is the right word. As far as technology, software is relatively IP lax and innovative, which lets us mix and remix from a common knowledge pool. Imagine how much slower software development would be if we all had to pay royalties to knuth for using an if statement, royalties for using any encryption, or any algorithm which was, after all, non-obvious before it was invented.