It is going to be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few decades, because I don't think it's a foregone conclusion either way.

One thing to note is that copyrights have become more and more "important" (i.e. longer and longer duration) while copying has become easier and easier. This has been particularly true over the past century when technologies like radically improved printing techniques and more easily copyable media has been introduced.

On the other hand, I honestly don't see how the copyright wars are sustainable. By digitizing information we've made it possible to replicate it perfectly, indefinitely, and easily. Even the vulgarities of physics that make the exact replication of bits impossible has long been solved mathematically. So something is going to have to break somewhere: either society as a whole is going to have to accept copyright (and current indications are that society is heading in the other direction) or we're going to have to discard the notion of copyright and find other means of supporting the "information economy."