The major problem with copyright is it's too long. The vast majority of revenue from copyrighted content is made in the first couple of years, and yet we extend copyright 70 years past the author's death! If copyright lasted two years instead, all the problems with it would be much less severe.

Copyright is a monopoly that the government creates on purpose. We need to treat that monopoly power with more respect. We shouldn't be handing out generational monopolies willy-nilly. Copyright is allowed in the Constitution for "limited times" and Congress has ignored that.

" Since 1990, The Walt Disney Company had lobbied for copyright extension. The legislation delayed the entry into the public domain of the earliest Mickey Mouse cartoons, leading detractors to the nickname "The Mickey Mouse Protection Act".

In addition to Disney, California congresswoman Mary Bono (Sonny Bono's widow and Congressional successor), and the estate of composer George Gershwin supported the act. Mary Bono, speaking on the floor of the United States House of Representatives, said:

    Actually, Sonny wanted the term of copyright protection to last forever. I am informed by staff that such a change would violate the Constitution. ... As you know, there is also [then-MPAA president] Jack Valenti's proposal for term to last forever less one day. Perhaps the Committee may look at that next Congress.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act

> If copyright lasted two years instead, all the problems with it would be much less severe.

If you spend five years writing a book and then get to sell it for two years, and everyone will just think "I'll get it in two years", you might not like that.

Drug patents are much more short-lived and there's arguably more money invested in drug discovery than in, say, writing a fiction novel. IMO copyright should be limited to 20-30 years. Not that LLM labs care anyway.

Original copyright was 14 years + 14 years - then it was changed to 28.

I'd love to see it brought back down to that again.

Just make it 20 years, like patents.

Two years is too short because it won't protect from commercial exploition against a creators wishes.

Harry Potter copyright is still being heavily utilized (milked?) 30 years after the first book's release.

You're free to release your own work with Creative Commons License (or any other license that shorten the copyright).

> Copyright is a monopoly that the government creates on purpose

Creative work takes a lot of effort and resources (ex: movie production, games, books (hello Knuth)) and can be easily copied/imitated in a digital age.

It you think copyright should be shorter to everyone, then inheriting something valuable shouldn't be a thing as well?

> and yet we extend copyright 70

That's an americocentric view. Copyrights are shorter around the world. In fact, iirc, US has some of the longest ones.