this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2023
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This. If you invent some machine or process that will change the world, you have twenty years to make your fortune, after which you will be out-competed on price by cheap Chinese knock-offs. But if you write a book or a song or make a film, if it takes off you're set for life. And not only that, your descendants will be set for another seventy years.
20 years is quite short. But life+70 is too long. I've seen one more conservative take that would like to see 50 years for creative works. That would give enough time for two bouts of nostalgia, and meanwhile it would mean that Mozart and Beethoven would be joined by Hendrix and Elvis, that Shakespeare and Shelley would be joined by the likes of Orwell. You & I would be free to make new James Bond stories (and probably do a better job than the ones that currently have the film rights)
I think 20 years is a good amount of time. First, it matches how long patents last. Second, it gives enough time to milk the copyright to make lots of money from a creative work while letting customers see what innovation happens when it goes public domain in their lifetime.