The root was zero IP law. People who invented any new thing(say = a widget stamp) could use it to make widgets all day and sell them. If someone looked in a win

The root was zero IP law. People who invented any new thing(say = a widget stamp) could use it to make widgets all day and sell them. If someone looked in a window and say how to made widget presses = he could also make them. If he open sourced it = showed his neighbours = all know the secret and market saturation ensues. That secret was his ' barrier to entry', anyone else had to do the old hard way. Romans were famous for this, rich men would kill inventors of new processes to maintain a monopoly. This led to intense secrecy. Look at Newton's famous secrecy, he was only convinced to publish late in life and, along with others, started the learned journal industry that employed the new printing tech to make many at a low cost. Once an inventor could reveal his secret to employees to make many items AS WELL AS have the original Royal Patent protected fabrication monopoly(later time limited monopolies emerged). Copyright/rant/Disney = another story...