I too wish people would stop using words properly.
steal [steel] ,verb, stole, sto·len, steal·ing, noun
verb (used with object)
1. to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, especially secretly or by force: A pickpocket stole his watch.
2. to appropriate (ideas, credit, words, etc.) without right or acknowledgment.
May I also suggest you look up the term 'colloquial.' This isn't a court room.
"1: the act of infringing : violation
2: an encroachment or trespass on a right or privilege"
Infringement on someone's property is more like trespassing than deprivation of a good.
But funnily enough, in this case it may actually be "copyright theft", which in 95% of the cases gets misused when meaning copyright infringement. Copyright theft actually means taking someone's work, and saying it's your work. And this is what NBC seems to have done.
I guess it was too subtle before. "deprivation of a good" is not a requirement for all definitions of the word 'steal' or theft when talking outside a courtroom.
>Infringement on someone's property
You mean "2. to appropriate (ideas, credit, words, etc.) without right or acknowledgment."
My god that's stealing!
>Copyright theft actually means taking someone's work, and saying it's your work
Since you're trying so hard to be pedantic, that would be plagiarism (act) and copyright infringement (legally). On the street, that is referred to as theft.
steal [steel] ,verb, stole, sto·len, steal·ing, noun verb (used with object) 1. to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, especially secretly or by force: A pickpocket stole his watch.
2. to appropriate (ideas, credit, words, etc.) without right or acknowledgment.
May I also suggest you look up the term 'colloquial.' This isn't a court room.