Copyrights and ownership

Lessig brings up the concept of getting a copyright for ideas which the one who produced it will be able to keep and publish for his or her own rights. The cost for this would be $1. This is a great idea. Many who are worried about others taking their ideas can protect them and for a very cheap fee as well. Others who aren't so worried about this can let the public take and change their works. The law has changed so much to protect the creator that it forgets that creativity can come from other works. Many similar fairy tales are told all over the world. Who has the exclusive right to them? Many are remade into movies, books, etc. Once they are published then are the creators of those movie, books, etc get the exclusive right? No because the origin of those stories come from different locations. People who tried to recreate those stories could be sued but aren't because the storyline doesn't belong to one person, it belongs to a community or culture.
Take music for an instance. Many musician or artist remake old songs. Now days you can't find an artist who isn't singing the same lyrics of an older song. The beat or temple may be changed but the lyrics are still the same. Or vice versa: many may change the lyrics but the background music is the same, nothing has been touched except for the lyrics. Yes, Lessig brings up that they may have paid for the rights to use these songs but why can't the public get the same rights? It always comes down to money. Whoever can afford to pay a fee can have ownership over a work.
This is also where creativity comes into play. Many artist likes to get credit for the creativity of their work, but its off the work of another. If someone was to bring up this in a face to face interview I'm sure that many of the artist would feel uncomfortable talking about it. Many movies and books also hold similar storylines. When does one author sue another over the same storyline. Sure they may have tweaked it a bit but isn't it still the same story, just different names? Creativity can be to build from another's work, but if the author or producer isn't okay with the public using his or her own work then get a copyright patent for it. Its that simple but the corporate and laws suppresses the public from creating change.