[gaius]

Patent infringement is theft of the money invested in R&D. If someone steals electronically from your bank account, is it any less theft because there was no physical cash involved?

Yes I agree that software patents are wrong, etc etc but that is a flaw in the implementation of the patent system, not its fundamental design.

[SwellJoe]

Patent infringement is theft of the money invested in R&D.

Patent infringement is patent infringement.

If someone steals electronically from your bank account, is it any less theft because there was no physical cash involved?

Stealing electronically would be theft, not patent infringement. Theft via electronic means is nothing like patent infringement.

It is tempting to try to simplify complex topics with analogies or metaphors...but, in this case, the case law for intellectual property and physical property or money are vastly different. Conflating the two only serves to confuse people into thinking they are the same, when the law says they are actually quite different.