Copyright was originally about protecting the public from corporations. An author had no incentive to write because a corporation with a printing press would mass produce the work for a fraction of the cost without paying the author. Copyright meant corporations couldn't do that.

But since since at least the 90s copyright has been about protecting corporations from the public. This fits the general trend of the last 50 years or so. Corporations are amassing more and more power and the public has very little.