&gt; The fact that nobody benefits much is very much worth pointing out.<p>&gt; Of course the main driver of this is Disney, which is trying to keep Mickey Mouse under copyright.<p>I read an analysis that didn&#x27;t think much of this view. It said we should look at ever-extending copyright protections as a form of economic protectionism against the past, forcing the public to buy potentially-inferior modern IP rather than fall back on older IP.<p>You suggest this yourself, with<p>&gt; historically there were stories that only became popular BECAUSE they fell out of copyright<p>and I think it&#x27;s worth thinking about. In particular, I&#x27;m pretty sure &quot;the fact that nobody benefits much&quot; isn&#x27;t actually a fact.