ABSTRACT
An exploration of the historical background and legal-economic contexts of the copyright-growth relation indeed raises concerns about the interactions between entrepreneurs’ pursuit of short-term profi t and long-term growth promotion, between entrepreneurs’ private benefi t and public responsibility, and between entrepreneurs’ innovation and imitation in the UK copyright industries. Creativity and innovation at both the fi rm and industry levels need not only be an expectation or incentive from protection of property but also an encouragement from protection of freedom. The economic justifi cations of copyright emphasise the aspects of expectation or incentive concerning the copyright-growth relation from protection of property rather than from protection of freedom. In contrast, Lessig’s balance justifi cation of copyright
(as discussed in Chapter 3 ) is a theoretical endeavour to delineate the interaction between copyright, creativity, innovation, growth, incentive, competition, and freedom under diverse institutions – from legal institutions to market institutions – in the information age.
