Why innovations cannot be locked up

The glassmakers there were not only forbidden to pass on their knowledge, but also to emigrate, i.e. to enter the service of others, on pain of death. However, these rules did not last long-term because the ban on dissemination also significantly increased the incentive to circumvent it. Although the Venetians hindered the transfer of technical knowledge, they were happy to make good money from the sale of the glass. Consequently, many European authorities, who had to pay dearly for it, sought this technology themselves in order to get rid of the Venetian monopoly; On the other hand, it may have been very lucrative for individual glassmakers themselves to secretly leave the islands and set up a corresponding glass production facility in foreign service. By the 17th century at the latest, a glass and mirror production in the Venetian style was set up in France under Louis In the period that followed, Venice lost its monopoly, but was able to maintain the importance of its own glass production due to its high quality.