The intent of Copyright was to give the public the benefit of more works being created in exchange of their right to redistribute the works. Copying physical works is difficult so we were not giving up much then, but in the modern times it’s very easy to copy digital works. I also suspect we’re not encouraging more works to be created with this “long after death” time limit. I have nothing against artists wanting control of their work (my video games would be nothing without them) but this is no longer a good deal for the public.
Artists can use Copyright to control their works in a limited sense but is that the control they want? Would 10 years be enough?
The intent of Copyright was to give the public the benefit of more works being created in exchange of their right to redistribute the works. Copying physical works is difficult so we were not giving up much then, but in the modern times it’s very easy to copy digital works. I also suspect we’re not encouraging more works to be created with this “long after death” time limit. I have nothing against artists wanting control of their work (my video games would be nothing without them) but this is no longer a good deal for the public.
Artists can use Copyright to control their works in a limited sense but is that the control they want? Would 10 years be enough?