Piracy and Intellectual Property Theft in the Internet Era

Abstract

Stealing ideas is not something new, but stealing and transporting ideas in a massive amount has become possible in the era of the Internet, in which this group of incidents emerged rapidly. Based on the frameworks of criminological theory/thesis, this chapter intends to elaborate intellectual property theft and piracy emerged in the cyberspace. Contemporary cases of intellectual property theft and piracy are used to illustrate the blurred line between victims and offenders, especially in the era of Internet. The impacts of related information technology should be carefully appraised, as more and more intellectual properties are in digital format.