There are plenty of "stolen" inventions, you can start with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Great_Inventions

Talking about and "government supported IP theft", the "They" in "They took the crops and silk production infrastructure, and deported all the workers to Palermo" from the excerpt I quoted refers to "the Norman king Roger II of Sicily" and "Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos". Those were surely _govern sponsored_.

My point is an easy one: history repeat itself.