[SarahofGaia]

I agree. Indeed, although most of the copyright stuff out there is driven by profit-hungry companies, the fact still remains that it is still a valuable protection for artists.

For example, if a photographer takes a picture of something and posts it to their online website, without copyright anyone could just up and steal it and claim it as their own, and there'd be nothing the artist could do about it.

Same thing for writers. And video directors. And musicians. Etc.

Yes, it's misused and could use a lot of improvements; however, it's here for a good reason.

Bottom Line: You can improve something without completely getting rid of it. Creative Commons (CC) is a great example of this; it allows for open sharing yet maintains attribution. This protects the artists whilst dismantling any motivation for publishers/distributors/other_companies to be copyright sharks about it.