It dates at least from the 1886 Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Article 12 uses the word "piracy".) I presume the Berne Con

It dates at least from the 1886 Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Article 12 uses the word "piracy".) I presume the Berne Convention wasn't the first hyperbolic use of "piracy" to describe copying without permission. The Barbary Pirates were still somewhat operating until France took Algiers in 1830. I'm not sure which other pirates would have been around after 1830, but the real threat of piracy was within living memory in 1886. Murder and plunder on the high seas is so much more exciting to claim you're fighting, rather than admit you're cracking down on someone in a basement with a printing press.