What is the origin of the propaganda term "Piracy" to refer to the copying of products and software?

I don’t know, but my best guess would date back to the pre-internet shareware days, where people would copy software on floppy disks.

It is even pre-digital. I remember -way back—in the 1970’s hearing about “bootleg” or “pirated” LP’s of unreleased material. At that time the sound quality may have been questionable, because it was analogically re-recorded, usually 3rd or 4th generation.

For a very long, long time

The practice of labelling the infringement of exclusive rights in creative works as “piracy” predates statutory copyright law. Prior to the Statute of Anne in 1710, the Stationers’ Company of London in 1557 received a Royal Charter giving the company a monopoly on publication and tasking it with enforcing the charter. Those who violated the charter were labelled pirates as early as 1603.[7] The term “piracy” has been used to refer to the unauthorized copying, distribution and selling of works in copyright.[8] Article 12 of the 1886 Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works uses the term “piracy” in relation to copyright infringement, stating “Pirated works may be seized on importation into those countries of the Union where the original work enjoys legal protection.”[8] Article 61 of the 1994 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) requires criminal procedures and penalties in cases of “willful trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy on a commercial scale.”[10] Piracy traditionally refers to acts of copyright infringement intentionally committed for financial gain, though more recently, copyright holders have described online copyright infringement, particularly in relation to peer-to-peer file sharing networks, as “piracy.”[8]

I was gonna say “Doh De Doh Doh, Nobody knows!” But, damn, @Cruiser does! Way to go or did you make this up as you went along?

@rojo I do make up a lot of shit….but when I provide a link like I did in my answer….I just used my Ixquick search engine to find the answer I gave.