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To those who want a specific time period for copyright, especially a short one such as ten years, and not a "life+": What would you say to a poor author who publishes a book that bombs at first, but the minute it lapses out of copyright somehow it becomes a huge Harry Potter type phenom, leaving the author still poor?
As far as the "family" dilemma after the author's death goes, here's how I see it: Right now, an author could write a bestseller at say 20, live to 110, and then her great-great-grandchildren who're already rich could keep on rolling in the dough without lifting a finger for more than another half a century, keeping a work in copyright well over even 150 years possibly, which is just silly. Also, let's not forget that estates with copyright can choose not to print something and hoard it, depriving the world of easy access to the work until generations later when it finally goes out of copyright.
I haven't thought on it much until just now, but my first instinct for books would be something like: 50 years or life+20, non-renewable and whichever comes later. This would protect the author's actual family in case the author dies young (and not some money-grubbing descendants of the author), and the author herself in case the work doesn't become successful until years later, while being short enough to give the world the work of art in a timely manner and not being so long and drawn out just for the sake of making a few people richer who don't necessarily deserve it.
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