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Since the idea behind copyright is giving an incentive to creativity, the whole idea that it should persist for a long period after the author's death is just wrong.
There is a great interview with German author Arno Schmidt from the late sixties or early seventies. He's as strong a proponent of copyright as you can find in this interview, because his latest work has been pirated and he is livid about it. He's so furious that as a listener (I've heard the audio of the interview) you are worried he might have a heart attack. He leaves no doubt about the fact that he thinks book pirates are scum, and he has tons of great arguments to support the point.
Then, near the end, he is asked about the then current plan to extend copyright from Life +20 to Life +50, and he replies that he finds it preposterous. Life +20 is plenty, he says, enough for the author's heirs get a fair share, and then the work should fall to the public domain.
I agree with Schmidt. Why should generations of heirs make money from a book their ancestor wrote?
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