Copyright "is designed primarily to protect an artist, a publisher, or another owner against specific unauthorized uses of his work." A copyright holder can then control and benefit from the use of their work.
"copyright." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Library Edition.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2011.
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According to Locke's second treatise, when you create something new, you put part of yourself into it, and it becomes part of you.