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Comment by captn3m0 | Hacker News Reader

Related fact: Germany was one of the last countries to adopt copyright laws, and even then they were pretty lax[0]. Historians believe that this legal situation was one the factors behind the rise in Germany’s industrial prowess.

In a way, Germany became a industrial powerhouse because _it had cheap books_.

[0]: Arsene Lupin’s adventures with Sherlock Holmes were published as “Herlock Sholmes” everywhere except Germany for eg.

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Germany was also the last country that formed, by far. Not that that even matters because copyright laws did exist before that. The difference is that the "Deutsche Bund" had copyright only last for ten years, starting with the publication of a work. Though, it changed in 1845 to lifetime + 30 years. But, just like in all the other countries, copyright only applied on a national level. International copyright became a proper thing in 1886 with the Berne Convention. Before that, the British could easily copy French or German works for instance.

Anyway, so basically all countries were on an even playing field. Industrialization in the German states also only really kicked off after the revolution of 1848/49, so that was after the copyright version which lasted a long time came into effect. Of course, industrialization then switched into high gear after the formation of Germany in 1871. In the end, something that gentleman11 mentioned is of actual importance here: "My impression was that Germany was an industrial powerhouse because of their fragmented states prior to unification, leading to needing a hard work ethic to get by." Having a hyper-competitive national market and the means to transport the wares into all corners of the market really fuels innovation. It was the case back then just as it is the case now.

It would be an impressive case study but it would take a lot of evidence to prove. My impression was that Germany was an industrial powerhouse because of their fragmented states prior to unification, leading to needing a hard work ethic to get by. They also inherited the holy Roman empires administrative mindset, and had them less diluted than the rest of Europe since the eastern empire lasted centuries longer.

Here’s the citation that Wikipedia gives: https://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/no-copyright-...

There definitely were a lot of factors, and lax copyright was one of them.

Interestingly enough, it's a rather bad article that goes for framing things in a certain light...like mentioning Prussia's copyright law from 1837 and then going on to say way later: "The market for scientific literature didn't collapse even as copyright law gradually became established in Germany in the 1840s." No precise date there...which is 1845, as I mentioned in another comment, where the "Deutsche Bund" extended their own copyright law which existed beforehand. Prussia's law is insofar worth mentioning as it was really modern and comprehensive for its time....which isn't acknowledged at all in the article. The way they used Prussia's law from 1837, they could have used another state's one where printing businesses had "copyright" (printing privileges) for two years if they used it (as an example), and that started in the late 15th century, instead. Or they could have used the French-style copyright laws introduced in some states in the early 1800s due to the French invasion. Of course, due to the plethora of states and the lack of an encompassing law which the "Deutsche Bund" had to establish first, one could just hop across a border and copy a work, thus rendering the copyright law of a state effectively useless. That's also the reason why I didn't bother mentioning it at all in my other comment but here it's relevant because the article writes: "Germany, on the other hand, didn't bother with the concept of copyright for a long time", right before mentioning Prussia's 1837 law which is just straight up nonsense.

Germany is absent Google Street View.

Er no: https://goo.gl/maps/Ajtkg3DWnnCRnNK18

There are a few strange comments about Germany in this thread.

Is there some internet movement whose pastime it is to make Germany look backward? What do you get out of it?

All countries are backwards in some way. No big deal. Love Germany BTW. Haven’t been there for a long time now so I should go back soon!

And "backwards" depends on one's vantage point, anyway.

Indeed.

And they use cash everywhere, what is this? Are we back in the 90s?

Oh, so sorry that we prefer to not be reliant on third parties, having our transaction histories be sold etc. Just like how we were the last country where Firefox had the majority in marketshare because we like(d) our privacy, so too do we like having control of our money, despite the banks' and government's attempts to undermine it by restricting the use of cash, pushing CCs on people and so on. And if you want to pay with some card, phone or whatever in a supermarket, you can do so.

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