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Copyright is a valuable and necessary protection, and anyone who thinks otherwise just isn't thinking.
But how long should copyright last? That's the issue. Seventy years past the author's death is an incredibly long time, and I'm not sure how it's in anyone's best interest. Most authors' works will go out of print long before copyright expires, so even the heirs are not benefitting. It makes more sense to let works into the public domain after a reasonable amount of time--I'd say something like 50 years after first publication, or 25 years after the author's death, whichever is later.
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