[SensualPoet]

It's a pity we aren't evolving to a new place, given the amount of content on the Internet and the relative ease of access to more every day.

I'd like to see something more flexible: 20 year authorship copyright from date of creation / initial publication, renewable every ten years for up to 50 years from creation. Works being renewed would be required to be deposited in a global repository. Those not actively protecting their rights would have copyright lapse after 20, 30, 40 and finally and permanently, after 50 years.

Copyright would continue to apply to the written word, speech, recordings, photos, moving images, etc. Characters, like Mickey Mouse, could be protected as trademarks; but whole works, like Fantasia, could not. However, Disney could control the source material and watermark, etc, of any copies -- plus continue to be the "authentic authoritative source" for such works after PD applies, including adding newer material which would, of course, have its own 50 year span. By packaging new material with PD, it could effectively "add new value" and continue to "monetize" its original lapsed copyright material.