In Lessig’s chapter on piracy he speaks of the changing nature of copy-right law saying,

“Instead, in our tradition, intellectual property is an instrument. It sets the groundwork for a richly creative society, but remains subservient to the value of creativity. The current debate has this turned around. We have become so concerned with protecting the instrument that we are losing sight of the value.

I think that what this is saying is that we usually view intellectual property as a a free source from which other creative thought and direction can be born. Now, paranoia in large part due to piracy, has made us so paranoid about the actual intellectual property that we stop accepting the value in creativity that is birthed from another individuals intellectual property.