The USA is a great counter example. In the 19th century it took all kinds of european inventions, did very bad IP enforcement, and built out based on rampant I

The USA is a great counter example. In the 19th century it took all kinds of european inventions, did very bad IP enforcement, and built out based on rampant IP theft. The IP relation between China and USA today is basically the relation between the USA and Europe then. There is also Hollywood, the place where Edison could not get his film patents enforced, so every film maker ran to there. Rampant patent infringement made it great. Or inside Europe, there were cities complaining how the guild IP rules were not enforced on farms. People bought e.g. cheap low quality pots and pans on the farms, with no frivolities or no correct marks, and no money was paid to the guilds. For shame! This was without patents, with guilds being very protective of their knowledge, and inventions still spread without much trouble. Necessity is generally the mother of invention. Patents just slow things down to protect the established players.