[wisty]

I guess so. If you could steal the deeds to Harry Potter, then tell the publishers to deposit royalty checks in your account, that would be IP theft. You would have stollen the right to control publication, which is the real IP.

If you copy a movie, that's not the theft of the IP (i.e. the underlying copyright), it's infringement.

Piracy isn't like the theft of a piece of land, it's like trespassing. You don't say someone squatting in your lawn is stealing your lawn, you just say he's a trespasser.

[mrdingle]

Piracy isn't like anything, it's copyright infringement. There is no need for an analogy. What takes place is completely obvious.

Using any analogy actually decreases the understanding even for the layman.