If that was the reason, it should be completely abolished as the exact opposite was achieved.

See for example this article [1]

> unlike neighboring England and France, Germany experienced an unparalleled explosion of knowledge in the 19th century.

> it was none other than copyright law, which was established early in Great Britain, in 1710, that crippled the world of knowledge in the United Kingdom.

>Germany, on the other hand, didn't bother with the concept of copyright for a long time. Prussia, then by far Germany's biggest state, introduced a copyright law in 1837, but Germany's continued division into small states meant that it was hardly possible to enforce the law throughout the empire.

For a more contemporary view look at what became of China by ignoring copyright.

[1]: https://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/no-copyright-...