| KylieDog said:
When you buy a game you are not just buying a disc you are buying the data on the disc with a right to use what they want you to and how. When a game is pirated that data is stolen and you have no right to use it, hence theft. |
Legally speaking, that isn't the case. Theft is defined as the removal of someonne else's goods or services without compensation - you on't actually remove anyone's goods or services, or prevent them from being compensated. That's the difference between pirating and walking out of a restaurant without paying, or going into a movie theater without paying: no one is actually deprived of limited resources without recompense, which is why there's a legal difference.
Copyright infringement in the case of game piracy is more about gaining the advantages of creation without paying for it: the idea is that you don't have the right to experience somethign without paying for it, even if you're not depriving someone else of recompense or that same experience.
Piracy is illegal and wrong, sure, but it's distinct from theft.
