As long as we're doing thought experiments about radical changes to copyright:
I'd like to consider allowing transformative (or derivative? I'm not entirely sure of the difference) works made for profit when the copyright is held by a business (not an individual) after a much shorter time, like 5 or 10 years.
So, when fans are annoyed and disappointed by the latest film in a franchise, it will be possible for others to make alternative versions.
I assume that when businesses produce films, they expect to get most of the return on their investments after 5 or 10 years. And they will keep the sole right to earn money from selling copies of their own films. But they may have to compete with other versions of their story. Competition is supposed to be good, right?
And yes, I realise that this wouldn't just be used to make a gayer version of the Avengers films
, it could also be used to make remakes I'd hate, for instance someone who hated The Last Jedi could make a new version where Rey and Finn were replaced by white men.
Note: I do realise that it would be hard to implement, and probably easy to find loopholes, so I'm describing more what I think
should be than something I think
could be. And I'm sure there are disadvantages I haven't thought about.
My
serious suggestion for copyright terms is something like "life + 30" or "publication + 70", whatever comes first.