Intellectual property law is based on the notion that copying is bad for
creativity. It is usually cheaper to copy something than create something
wholly new. If innovators are not protected against imitation, they will not
invest in more innovation. At least that’s how the story goes.
5 The real world, however, tells a different story, Imitation is at the center of
an enormous amount of innovation. Rules against copying are sometimes
necessary. But in many cases, they serve to slow down innovation Copying,
in short, is often central to creativity.
How can copying be beneficial? Because it can enable as well as inhibit
10 innovation, When we think of innovation, we usually picture a lonely genius
toiling away until he or she finally has an “aha!” moment. In fact, innovation
is often an incremental, collective and competitive process. And the ability to
build on existing creative work --- to tweak and refine it --- is critical to the
creation of new and better things.
15 Once we look, we see examples all around us. Thomas Edison’s light bulb
imitated elements from a dozen earlier bulbs. Shakespeare’s “Romeo and
Juliet” borrowed from earlier writers, and “West Side Story” in turn drew
heavily from Shakespeare. This kind of copying and tweaking often leads to
more choice in the marketplace --- many variations on a theme --- and more
20 competition, which is good for consumers. Copying can also drive the
process of invention, as competitors strive to stay ahead. And copying can
serve as a powerful form of advertising for originators, one that carries
weight because it is authentic. Copying may even expand a market by
creating a trend.
25 There are many other examples, from fashion designs to football plays to
financial innovations like index funds, that exhibit this marriage of copying
and creativity. These examples do not prove that copying is always a force
for good. And it is not. Just ask Apple. From its beginning Apple was an
active copier itself.
30 In a 1994 interview, Steve Jobs invoked Picasso’s alleged dictum that “good
artists copy, great artists steal.” Jobs went on to say that at Apple, “We have
always been shameless about stealing great ideas.”
Jobs was right. While he has often been invoked as a visionary, he was, as
Malcolm Gladwell recently described, “the greatest tweaker of his
35 generation.” On a visit in 1979 to the Xerox research center in Palo Alto, he
became fascinated with a Xerox prototype computer that used a mouse and
screen icons. Jobs (and company) took ideas he’d seen at Xerox, refined
them and made them central features of the Macintosh.
The freedom to copy built Apple, and gave us the great products we enjoy
40 today.