[gego]

...only years late but better late than never... there is a lot of research, eh by Giesecke or Eisenstein, that is decades old.. the question has already been answered multiple times... and has been ignored as often... yes!

The weak copyright protections especially in contrast to GB, where there were strict and centralized rules in early modern Europe is a first indicator, this only intensified in the later centuries leading to piracy making information affordable - thus preparing a whole population for industrial production...