Please read this: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.law.duke.edu&#x2F;cspd&#x2F;publicdomainday&#x2F;2016&#x2F;pre-1976" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.law.duke.edu&#x2F;cspd&#x2F;publicdomainday&#x2F;2016&#x2F;pre-1976</a><p>And also look at the graphic on this page: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theatlantic.com&#x2F;technology&#x2F;archive&#x2F;2012&#x2F;03&#x2F;the-missing-20th-century-how-copyright-protection-makes-books-vanish&#x2F;255282&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theatlantic.com&#x2F;technology&#x2F;archive&#x2F;2012&#x2F;03&#x2F;the-mi...</a><p>Copyright serves a legitimate purpose. I doubt there would be many big budget games or movies produced without some degree of protection. The purpose of copyright is to provide an incentive to produce creative works. But it also needs to balance the benefits of that with the costs of restricting works from the public.<p>I believe that copyright should last 10 years. That sounds really short, but hear me out. The <i>vast majority</i> of works are not economically relevant after 10 years. And the ones that are, have usually earned 99% of their money within ten years. It&#x27;s a power law, the first year gets vastly more money than the second year, than the third year, and so on. This is especially true for games and movies which are fast paced industries. It&#x27;s also true for books and music, but the power law curve is a bit less steep.<p>There are exceptions to this, but they are just that - exceptions. The point is to provide an incentive for creators, not to give giant benefits to the outliers at the expense of the public.<p>Also originally copyright law had some additional measures to keep it from being restrictive. You had to actually register the copyright, not just grant it automatically, and you had to renew it halfway through. Which cost a few thousand dollars.<p>I also am very much in favor of derivative works. Fanfiction shouldn&#x27;t be illegal, making a t shirt with your favorite character on it shouldn&#x27;t be illegal, etc.<p>With this system you would be able to use old music, photos, software, books, movies, etc. As long as they were made before 2006.<p>Also trademark could handle some of the remaining issues. E.g. &quot;Star Wars&quot; could be a trademark of george lucas. You could make star wars derivatives, but you couldn&#x27;t brand them with star wars. Consumers would be able to tell apart ripoffs from works by the original creator.  Mickey mouse would still be a trademark of disney, but you could watch steamboat willy cartoons on youtube.