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Message: <blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 9535467" data-attributes="member: 3400">Maybe... but there are also countless works of real merit that tread directly on other works that are no longer under copyright protection, such as myriad adaptations of Shakespeare that would likely fail in the courts if ol' Bill's works were still under the copyright protection of Shakespeare's Legacy Conglomo, Inc.Bill Shakespeare may be long dead, but long dead vs recently dead is a minor question when the status of the original author is the same - dead. I may think it reasonable for a copyright to extend a bit after an author's death - long enough that any of the author's minor dependents are responsible for their own lives. But beyond that? I don't see the merit. And I sure don't see the merit of a specter of effectively unending copyright when transferred to a corporation that through merger and conglomeration never really dies.Copyright is limited because it's in the public interest for information and stories to be distributable and not perpetually monopolized. The question is just how long is exclusive control actually fair to both the author and society.</blockquote>