Precisely! It's supposed to be a compromise between "no IP" (where IP is copyrights, patents, trademarks, etc...) and some sort of permanent and ironclad possession of works and ideas. I believe the balance has tilted too far in favor of the producers of IP, and that it should be shifted back the other way, but not eliminated.
In a more general sense, the problem is "provisioning of public goods":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_good
Creating property where none naturally exists is one solution, but there are others (some good, some bad, depends on the type of good).
Good example, but I think it's more important to point out where copyright and property law come from - that property is accepted in our society as a fundamental right, while copyright is monopoly power which our government may grant "for a limited time" "to promote the progress of useful arts".
See here: http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.article...