知识产权的正统理由是功利主义。强知识产权权利的倡导者们认为,倘若缺乏这样的权利,复制者将搭载创作者努力的便车,扼杀创新。但是,存在一个重要的经验性反常现象:在缺乏强力知识产权保护的情形下,全球时尚产业依然制造出了花样繁多的创意产品。企业对待复制的谦抑态度,与其他创意产业中对盗版的强烈谴责以及相关立法和诉讼活动形成鲜明对比。为何当其他主要的内容产业已经为其产品获得日益强大的知识产权保护时,时尚设计依然多半不受保护,并在经济上取得成功?我们认为,时尚产业反直觉地在一个弱知识产权平衡中运转,复制非但未阻碍创新,反而可能在事实上促进了创新。我们将此称为“盗版悖论”。本文提供了一个模型,解释时尚产业的盗版悖论是如何运作的,以及复制如何在产业的快速创新周期中充当一个重要因素,甚至可能是一个必要基础。就此,我们旨在阐明时装产业的创造性动因。同时,我们希望引发知识产权政策基本问题的进一步探索:对激励创新而言,何种程度的知识产权权利是必要的?稳定的弱知识产权平衡是否还存在于其他产业? The orthodox reason of intellectual property is utilitarianism. Proponents of strong intellectual property rights argue that in the absence of such rights, replicators will carry buggies that the creators work hard to stifle innovation. However, there is an important empirical anomaly: in the absence of strong intellectual property protection, the global fashion industry still produces a wide variety of creative products. The corporate moderation of copying is in stark contrast to the strong condemnation of piracy in other creative industries and the related legislative and procedural activities. Why fashion design is still largely unprotected and economically successful when other major content industries have gained increasingly strong intellectual property rights for their products? We think the fashion industry is counterintuitive in a weak intellectual property balance Instead of hindering innovation, functioning and copying may actually promote innovation. We call this “piracy paradox”. This article provides a model to explain how the paradox of piracy in the fashion industry works and how duplication can be an important factor in the industry’s rapid innovation cycle and may even be a necessary foundation. In this regard, we aim to clarify the creative motivation for the fashion industry. At the same time, we hope to further explore the basic issues of intellectual property policy: what is the right intellectual property right to stimulate innovation and whether the stable weak intellectual property right balance still exists in other industries?