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"But the trend over last, well, LONG time is towards "intellectual property". That you can OWN an idea, or a song, or and invention, or a story... and that you have a RIGHT to PROFIT from it! Oh man, that just strikes me as so wrong..."
You cannot copyright an idea. You have to have something on paper or some kind of documentation that you can register with the copyright office. You can copyright works in progress and something doesn't have to be published or produced in order to copyright it. The copyright belongs to the creator as soon as they create it, but if they want to be able to sue someone for copyright infringement, they have to register their "creation" with the copyright office.
What strikes you as wrong about it? If I write a book, I own the copyright. It's mine to sell to a publisher. If I find a publisher, they pay me an advance (usually just a few thousand dollars for a new writer) and then I get a royalty for every book they sell, which first goes against my advance. What if someone else decides they want to publish my book with a red cover? Do they get to print it up and sell the copies without paying me? NO! They're ripping me off as well as my legitimate publisher. Copyrights apply to "original works of authorship" - songs, photographs, software, etc. The creator owns it unless they sell the rights to someone else.
Inventions get patented and patents are good for 20 years. Generally you have to provide sufficient documentation (design drawings, prototypes, formulations, etc.) in order to get a patent and your design or formulation must be significantly different from any other currently patented item. You designed or formulated it, you own the rights to manufacture it and sell it, or to sell your patent rights to a manufacturer.
You're right that the ability to copyright and patent increases innovation, but only because the creator knows that once they've created that thing, it's theirs to sell. They put their work and creativity into it, why shouldn't they be the one that makes money from it?
I don't get why you don't get it.
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