A little history can be helpful for perspective, and it happens that I live in the country that has the oldest IP laws ... 1790 in the United States, because my nation was trying to break the mold of only certain people being allowed to have property in Europe. Either you were a landowner by inheritance, OR, everything you made you had to sell to everyone else in order to pay rents and live. The United States, wanting to attract artisans and inventors, said, "We will allow you property rights in your CREATIVITY, therefore allowing YOU the protections and provisions afforded under Anglo-Saxon type laws to PROPERTY OWNERS." The idea that a creative person could live from the use of his or her creations for a certain period of time was revolutionary -- it is the FIRST unique civil right, and it is just a year younger than the U.S. Constitution itself.
Now, the incredibly extended period of protection of IP we have today IS more the result of corporate lobbying ... HOWEVER, if you are a creative thinking of your family or community's long-term well-being, no matter where you start from, this still allows you the original intent: to provide for your future heirs through your creativity and their rights in it. Once upon a time, you had to be European and and of a certain class to do this. IP has extended this right to the masses.