Corporate ‘pirates’ part of America’s own history

What would you call businesses in a country that try to reverse-engineer products, equipment or methods patented in another country? Or, what would you call businesses that lure employees with confidential and trade-secret information protected by one country’s laws to work for a company in another country that does not enforce those laws? And, what country would allow – or even encourage – such behavior?

You probably used the word “pirate,” and may have identified the country as “China” or “North Korea.” You may be right. But you could also identify the country as the United States of America in the…