Stolen creation

I have a whole new outlook on the entertainment industry after having read the chapters on Creators and Pirates. What I found so interesting was how the onset of technological innovations brought about the need to create laws to protect creativity. Back when Walt Disney and Buster Keaton were tearing up the big screen their whole genius was based upon their abilites to take others work and parody it. However once more complex technologies began being used and more people had access to the industry two things happened: more people tried to get in on it and the people on the in tried to keep others out. When Edison tried to monopolize the industry "pirates" fled to the land of outlaws... California. My point being, it's interesting how the evolution of an industry can be so contradictory to its roots. The question it raises for me is, how can you really define creativity when the greatest creators of our time were pirates? And how can you limit the independence of piracy when that is where creativity is born?