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Message: <blockquote data-quote="woodelf" data-source="post: 1561485" data-attributes="member: 10201">Don't forget trademark. While the old Batman comics might become PD, Batman himself wouldn't, so others still couldn't write new Batman stories. I'm not sure i like this state of affairs, but if it didn't also change, shortened copyright would do essentially nothing to threaten the holders of valuable entertainment IP, almost all of which has distinctive trademarkable elements. Disney is in no danger of losing exclusive control over Mickey Mouse (or any other character) just because Steamboat Willie falls into the public domain.And, in any case, copyright renewals could very well take care of that. They should not be cheap--while initial copyright must be free to do its job, renewals could be expensive enough to discourage their use except for things like very valuable series. If i were J.K. Rowling, i'd gladly pay a few 10s of thousands of dollars to renew the copyright on the first couple of Harry Potter books until all of the series was out. It might even be possible to automatically extend copyright in some manner where series are concerned, though it'd take some careful rules to balance the benefits with the potential for abuse.</blockquote>