Copyright is governed by a set of intellectual property laws. Just as patents, trademarks, and designs are types of property rights, so must one respect copyright a property right. A right means that you must have author or ownership over the work and are entitled to specific rights such as compensation, sole usage rights, control over your work, and the right to transfer ownership in part or wholly to another party.
Copyright as property right is today widely disputed by anti-copyright groups which argue that software copyrights should be eradicated to ensure the free flow of ideas rather than restricting access to usage and exploitation of works. The groups argue that the large software companies make millions and that they charge too much for their products.
Because of the high prices of software packages, many users make use of peer to peer sharing facilities to share and install software packages. The software companies argue that copyright as a property right should be respected and because there is such widespread piracy of software that they lose millions in revenue.
Just as one can have property rights on a specific piece of land, one can also see copyright as a property right in the sense that one is the originator of the work and as such must have full rights over the work.
The peer to peer share systems make it possible to distribute software, music, videos, and other copyright protected material. The problem with this is that the rightful owners of copyrights don’t receive any benefits from such, only the share systems users. Unless copyright as property right is understood, accepted and enforced, many authors and companies will have to ask more for their works because they have a smaller paying market.