Copyright holders are supposed to release the works to the public domain in return for protection for a limited time.
For many years there there have been no payment and effectively no limitations.
For many years there there have been no payment and effectively no limitations.
Patents were designed for a person to publicize their invention rather than using it secretly (see, e.g., forceps). Copyright was designed to give people an incentive to produce creative works, which would eventually be available to the public for free.
On the other hand, there have been documented instances where simply ignoring copyright led to economic boom. There have been plenty of recent articles on that.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,710976,...
In every single case, the evidence shows that the absence of Copyright has spurred more creativity and cultural expression than its presence. Moreover, the shorter the Copyright, the greater the quantity of expression.