“This is because stealing a digital work is not like stealing a tangible item.  Pirating a digital video off BitTorrent is not the same as shoplifting a DVD from BestBuy.  As the diagram above shows, when you shoplift a DVD from BestBuy, you are removing the original, which BestBuy can no longer sell and therefore loses money.  When you pirate the same movie from BitTorrent, the studio that released the movie does not lose a copy, and can continue to sell the movie to others.” source...