[GhostHawk]

First off, get the book industry to cut out the waste. Quit making us pay for books that are never read. That alone would half the price of most books. Tell me that if you could find your favorite author for half of what your paying now you wouldn't be interested. How many more hardcovers would they sell if the price was half of what it is now? 2 times, 3 times, or more? Same for paperbacks. Publishers could actually make much MORE money than they are now. Simply by cutting out the waste.

Second, how long is the average book on the "front" list? 2 - 4 months? 5 years after that is it even in print? Why does it need to be protected for 70 years or the life of an author?

Author is going to make his money off it before it hits the shelves with an advance.
Granted he may get a royalty check if the book sells big enough.
Why should the publisher be protected for that length of time?

Cut copyright back to 10 years. If the author dies give his heirs the same time he had left.

Publishers have 10 years to make their profit off any given book. Most patents run for less time than that. For those books who truly make it to blockbuster status. Let their be an "extension" that publishers can file for. And pay a hefty fee for, that would double the time before it goes public domain. So the Harry Potter books would be tied up for 20 years instead of 10. More than enough time for 95% of all "new" sales.

With the waste cut out, and publishers not needing to "protect" the sales of paper books.
Ebook prices should plummet dramatically. With a limited time frame to work with publishers would work hard at getting the backlist books out as ebooks.

With the lower cost of both pbooks and ebooks who's going to bother to pirate?
You'd drive the pirates right out of business.