I saw from the pirate party a presentation where copyright came to be as a reaction on the printing press. The catholic church feared to lose control over what information people would receive, and the scribes required protection. The state liked this control too, so a monopoly was added to law.

So there used to be mostly bad reasons for IP. It was always the haves repressing the havenots.

Not the one I read, but another source with a similar story: https://torrentfreak.com/nothing-new-under-the-copyright-ecl...