It wouldn't necessarily, but it'd allow others to fill the niche should the company stop filling it themselves. My understanding is that copyright law is meant

It wouldn't necessarily, but it'd allow others to fill the niche should the company stop filling it themselves. My understanding is that copyright law is meant to allow a company to profit off its ideas for a set period of time, in order to recoup R&D costs. Then, if the company no longer has the means to profit off the IP, and won't sell it to another who wishes to make the IP available, the IP should become public domain.