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Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous
!@#$! the flaw in your argument is that copyrights don't create a market, indeed they are the product of government regulation and have their root in the feudal guilds and craft licensing that the American colonists so despised
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Which is why American literature was so slow to start. A book from England was imported, reprinted, sold dirt cheap, and Americans rejoiced at the near-free entertainment they were getting. Government regulations? Yes, at some point England said "Knock that shit off." After that, no surprise, American writing flourished.
The term "bootleg" comes from England too. People would go to a popular play, jot down the dialogue (they usually worked in teams) and sneak out with what they got, stuffed into their boots. Then, they printed and sold the goods. All legal, although friends of the theater might kick your ass if they spotted you.
Hence, the "bad" quartos of Shakespeare. Indeed, Shakespeare didn't want his plays printed at all, but gave in sometimes to roadblock bootleggers. He didn't want them printed because there was no such thing as performance royalties at the time. If you got your hands on the dialogue to
Hamlet and put it on, Willie didn't get jack.
Once upon a time the concept of "intellectual property" didn't exist. I'm not sure it was paradise.