The copyright term was 28 years, with an option to renew for another 28 years, at a time when distributing your work worldwide, or even nationwide — to derive its full value — could take years, or even longer to promote and gain awareness.
Now distribution and promotion are very much faster. It can takes weeks, or even days, for a work to gain popularity.
The term should be updated to reflect that reality: it should be something like 3-5 years, with the possibility to extend if necessary.
In all cases a copyright should be treated like trademark: use it or lose it. And if an author isn’t responsive to requests, there should be some relatively simple way to force expiration of the copyright and use the work.
Now distribution and promotion are very much faster. It can takes weeks, or even days, for a work to gain popularity.
The term should be updated to reflect that reality: it should be something like 3-5 years, with the possibility to extend if necessary.
In all cases a copyright should be treated like trademark: use it or lose it. And if an author isn’t responsive to requests, there should be some relatively simple way to force expiration of the copyright and use the work.