Lessig catches part of the conundrum, but not all of it. There are three sets of players here.
1st, the creators. Most of them create for hopes of gain (in the current world) although not always. (Think of mathematicians - they have never been eligible for any IP protection, but some people do it anyways.) They are why IP way created in the first place, as an encouragement for the production of IP. But this encouragement was always for a limited time, for two reasons. 1 - To keep people creating, by not letting them live off one creation forever (most countries have laws against perpetual trusts, for the same reason). and 2 - That new ideas are the (in the long run) part of the commonweal of all humanity, leading to more prosperity for all.
2nd, the consumers. They pay a higher price for new creations due to IP rules, but get the correlated advantage of more and better IP products.
TANSTAFFL. And eventually, the IP product will be available for free.
3rd, middlemen. In particular, corporations. They are the driving force in trying to convert a wasting asset (IP) to a perpetual asset. That way they can capture a revenue stream forever, as long as they can find somebody to buy it. They refuse to write off a revenue stream, and will spend a lot of money to prevent that. Shucks, their goals is to keep the revenue stream rolling by making people buy the same IP property over and over and over again.
It's that third group that has made such a mockery of the process (regardless of technological advancements), continually stretching copyright length, lobbying over and over again to prevent losing those revenue streams, to the point to where the second group (at least those who think), have reached the "A Pox On Both Your Houses!" viewpoint. And technology has made that view enforceable.
<SHRUG>
Here's the least Draconian compromise I can think of, and it'll annoy <everybody> in the above groups. It's a package, not mix and match.
1. Shorten copyright back to the same length as patent (currently 20 years) -PERIOD. No extensions, no exceptions. (that means YOU - Hollywood.) As a sop to hollywood, let the ticker start for all the old movies same as new ones.
2. Register all IP (by the producer of IP) with a government agency. That's not too hard, just expand and organize the existing IP arms (patent office and copyright office).
3. The purchaser of <any> IP is allowed to register the fact with another goverment agency. Once registered, the person the has the <legal> right to - copy, backup, shift formats, keep multiple copies, to his or hers hearts content - but not to provide copies to any other person.
4. After the end of the copyright period, all registry record are purged, and the producer registry makes available for download formerly copyrighted material for a reasonable time (say 5 years). After that things like Project Gutenberg can take over.
Now if you're too embarassed to registed Debbie and the Three Great Danes - sorry (wait 20 years). If you just don't want to have the goverment tracking you, don't buy copyrighted product, and stay 20 years behind the times. If you don't want to admit you made D & T T G Ds, well, it's PD time.
Ladies and Gentlemen, start your brickbats.