Rethinking Copyrights: The Impact of Copying on Cultural Creativity and Diversity

There have been a number of voices calling for the implementation of a tighter copyrights regime in this era of digitization that will help deter the copying of established works. Such an approach though is counterproductive. Although imitation is often considered as a negative practice in our time, throughout history it has been perceived very differently. This chapter focuses on the true role of imitation and reveals the real nature of the relationship between copying, creativity, and diversity. It argues that contrary to prevailing beliefs, imitation and copying do not restrict cultural creativity or diversity but in fact support them further. The findings of this chapter suggest that imitation within the copyrights regime should be carefully reconsidered and that maybe the core issue is about earnings, rather than cultural creativity or diversity.