Aleksey Zalesov, Managing Partner of «A.Zalesov & Partners» Patent & Law Firm, considers the reasons for the transition from the legal mechanisms of monopoly rights of literary and artistic property to modern exclusive copyright for works of literature and art, the resemblance of monopoly rights of literary and artistic property with the institution of patent law, as well as the role of the author in the XV-XIX centuries. In addition, the article analyzes the difference between the institution of artistic property and the institution of literary property.