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I think the best system would be something that requires copyright to be renewed periodically. Say something like an initial term of 30 years or 10 years after the death of the creator, whichever is later. Then the heirs would need to actively take steps to hold on to copyright--say they need to renew every 10 years, to a maximum of 70 years after the death of the creator.
This would most likely free up tons of the books that fall out of print and are in limbo, with murky ownership among multiple heirs, etc. But the ones that are still in print and producing income would still be eligible for copyright protection, which would keep Disney and the like happy.
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