1.   The company have stolen the paths in the first place.

2.   As soon as the firm announced its plans, its parent company was served with a lawsuit by LifeFax Inc., which claimed the company stole its idea.

3.   A big company steals the idea and floods the market with a new product before the inventor even gets a patent.

4.   Long-distance phone companies fear that local companies will steal their customers, and vice versa.

5.   Some analysts believe that the companies are stealing share from smaller, lesser-known manufacturers because many corporate customers prefer to deal with a single supplier.

6.   The plaintiff company hires a computer expert to pick through these hard drives for anything that can prove the defendant company stole proprietary information.

7.   With new technology and fewer regulations, companies can quickly steal market share from one another.

8.   The New York-based producer of decorative tableware is embroiled in a legal battle with a half dozen Thai companies it says stole and sold his designs.