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In my personal opinion, Harry, it is not the consensus among the people of the developed nations, but merely the consensus of developed nation's politicians, being paid by rich corporations to do their bidding. And I consider politicians "paid" whether or not there is a quid pro quo or merely a number of campaign contributions...
And when those corporations start losing copyright protections for paying properties, they'll pay for some more extension. After all, that's how Berne got extended from Life + 50 to Life + 70 in the first place. Check the US government in about another 6-8 years. (1923 + 95 = 2018 -2009 = 9 more years and things start falling into the public domain again. Any bets that Congress doesn't extend them again? (And goes after Berne as well))...
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Well said. I don't think the general voting population even knows what the public domain is, let alone follow or care about these extensions. In the absence of the threat of public backlash, politicians have no incentive but to listen to their lobbyists.
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Why don't the politicians just simplify things? All this life + whatever is confusing. I propose that we use a new unit to measure the length of copyrights that is simple and honestly describes the process. This new unit is called the Mickey. The length of a copyright automatically extends to whatever is required to keep Mickey Mouse from going public domain. No more bothering the poor politicians with passing new legislation every few years, just automatically extend the copyright term every time old Mickey is in danger. And think of the children! They will be protected from seeing their hero sullied by public domain ruffians.
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Agreed. Every time Mickey Mouse is in "danger" of falling into the public domain, Disney will lobby congress to extend copyright terms. Once those terms are enacted, the U.S. will pressure and bully other countries into matching them.