>> nobody innovates because, without IP, you pay for the cost of R&D but "copycats" can steal the idea without paying.
>
> This just isn't true. It's human nature to innovate, just as it is human nature to sing, play music and dance.
Straw man fallacy.
The OP wasn't suggesting that literally nobody would innovate, just that innovation, particularly innovation paid for by private parties of the sort of thing which is expensive and easily copied, would significantly decline.
If you have ever paid to see someone sing, play music, or dance, you have participated in an activity which likely would not have occurred without there being a monetary incentive for that person to partake of the activity you paid to enjoy.
Straw man fallacy.
The OP wasn't suggesting that literally nobody would innovate, just that innovation, particularly innovation paid for by private parties of the sort of thing which is expensive and easily copied, would significantly decline.
If you have ever paid to see someone sing, play music, or dance, you have participated in an activity which likely would not have occurred without there being a monetary incentive for that person to partake of the activity you paid to enjoy.