今天,至少在大陆法系国家里,知识产权通常属于民事权利的范畴。然而,回溯历史带给人们的第一个惊异发现就是,知识产权并非源自于任何财产权利或者其他民事权利,原初的知识产权恰恰是一种与王权相关联的特权。这一特点在版权制度的起源上有典型的体现。当然,上述“惊异”到如今已经是版权史学者的常识了,然而,它至少暗示了历史考察的意义与作用。就时间维度而言,探寻版权制度与文化生产的关系,显然不能满足于以正式版权制 Today, at least in civil law countries, intellectual property generally falls under the category of civil rights. However, the first surprising finding that traces back to history is that intellectual property is not derived from any property rights or other civil rights, and original intellectual property is precisely a privilege associated with monarchy. This feature is typical of the origin of the copyright system. Of course, the above “surprise” has now become the common sense of copyright historians, however, it at least hinted at the historical significance and role. In terms of the time dimension, exploring the relationship between the copyright system and cultural production clearly can not be satisfied with the formal copyright system