This is, of course, a matter of opinion. My opinion is that copyright laws ought to be less stringent. In particular, they ought not to last as long as they do. In the United States, a copyright issued since 1978 is good for the life of the author plus another...
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This is, of course, a matter of opinion. My opinion is that copyright laws ought to be less stringent. In particular, they ought not to last as long as they do. In the United States, a copyright issued since 1978 is good for the life of the author plus another 70 years. This is a tremendously long time. This means that there will be no “timely entry of new material into the public domain.” Because the copyright extends for so long, creative use of the copyrighted material is stifled. This can be bad for innovation in the US.
One thing to consider is how long copyright protection lasts as compared to patent protections. Patents are only good for 20 years. After that, the innovations are in the public domain. This makes it much easier for innovations to occur using the patented ideas. It also provides inventors with more of an incentive to invent new things. There is no reason why the same should not be true of copyrights.