I admit to a certain degree of resentment that the film and music industries try to force the idea that copyright infringement is necessarily theft. I refer here specifically to copying and/or downloading movies and music for personal use. In some contexts infringement can do a great deal of harm, and should be considered a criminal offense ie plagiarism, or a company steeling an invention. But copying something without permission is not the same, and I just don't see it as theft in most circumstances. I see it as closer to a combination of trespassing, invasion of privacy and/or fraud.
I personally define theft as taking something away from its rightful owner, meaning they no longer have it. This of course presupposes that they were already in possession of it. The theoretical profits these corporations complain of losing never actually existed, so claiming they lost them makes no sense.
In the case of making a copy of a DVD for personal use: you have taken nothing from the company, you have removed nothing from their possession. Now if you were making copies and selling them then you are potentially depriving the company of money. This circumstance is the closest to being theft, but it is still something closer to forgery, wrong but not equivalent to robbery.
Example:
Say you visit a car dealership, and you see a car you really like, but rather than buy it you take a bunch of photos go home to your very well equipped garage and build one that looks just like it. You have stolen nothing from the manufacturer or dealership, so it is not theft.
Along the same lines as selling copied DVDs, making a whole bunch of knockoff cars and selling them would be a bit different than making one for personal use.
And even if it were unquestionably theft, who in their right mind thinks it would be reasonable to sentence someone to five years in federal prison for stealing something worth $20? Not to mention the $500.000 fine. Then again, who ever claimed the legal system was sane.
Disclaimer: I do not in any way advocate breaking the law, nor do I admit to having ever personally done so.
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). However, With pirating music/movies/games/programs you are most likely NOT building it from scratch (like like you did with your car). instead you just click download, wait a couple hours (give or take) and wahla. you now posses something that OTHER PEOPLE have spent hours, days, month, years and $$$$$ on. you didn't pay a penny (like you had with your garage full of equipment).