We know when we are ripping off somebody. We really do.

There is a pandemic of stealing off the web.

The team of lawyers at Mitchell, Silberberg and Knupp in Los Angeles, led by Mark Litvak (above) and George Borkowski, brought down Grokster through  litigation that went to the Supreme Court.  They also put Napster in the corner.

Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and Seattle: The simple commandment, "Thou shalt not steal," just four words, is ingrained in our conscience. Now we struggle to understand why we act so differently when it comes to Intellectual Properties (IP). Estimated annual losses globally is in the hundreds of billions of dollars.  Economies grow when money is transacted for something of value. Theft kills economies and IP theft is a real pandemic.

Lying, cheating and stealing has been going on forever. But now, the other IP (Internet Protocol) has made it so easy to steal, our children and all sorts of decent-loving-gentle people think nothing about "borrowing, using, enjoying" and otherwise ripping off somebody else's creative work.

While we were sleeping, the Pied Pipers of Piracy enlisted an entire college generation to begin nabbing other people's property "intellectual property" without regard for the consequences. Their recruitment was viral. Not only did their business model encourage young fans and average folks to rip off artists because it was quick, easy, free and anonymous, these otherwise decent people had begun acting and thinking like common thieves.

In this episode of the show we visit with the lawyers who argued down Grokster in the U.S. Supreme Court. We visit with a small business owner who is being ripped off, a composer who is figuring it out, and technologists who are waging the war to protect our intellectual assets.