Art is an essential form of human expression across all civilizations which is evident by majestic monuments, sculptures, cave paintings and phenomenal literary works. As such, works are not just limited to the artist or creator, but form a cultural marker of a society. Copyright law protects such creators for a limited time to promote and protect such works which are beneficial to the society in the long run and fall into public domain once the copyright protection expires. To best capture the rationale for copyright protection afforded only to humans and not to non-humans a quote from the movie Dead Poets Society may be cited.
“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”
Source: Barandbench
