To return to the IP.
IP is important, though patents are seriously overused. Actually I would prefer not to have patents at all. If two people have made the same invention both should be able to sell and make money out of it. With patents only one of them can. This is unfair.
Copyrights are a must though. A person has a right to information he produced, information that wouldn’t exist without him. So if J.K Rowling wrote a Harry Potter book she is the owner of the content of this book. Without her this book wouldn’t exist so she does not deprive anyone of anything when she retains complete control of the information she produced.
In the future physical property will probably become trivial, and the only thing valuable will be intellectual property. Without copyrights the world will resort to socialism in which the most intelligent and capable people will be utilized in jobs that do not require this level of talent and intelligence. Most valuable work will be done either for free or subsidized by donations. Incentives will be a lot smaller. Progress will be seriously hindered just as it was hindered in the Soviet Union because of inefficient allocation of resources and weak incentives.