The basis of copyright law is Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution:
“To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries”
Copyright protection is for a “limited time” to “promote progress,” not for an excessive time to enrich publishers. A long copyright period was justified 200 years ago when book sales were extremely limited. What is the point of a copyright of 120 years for a popular movie or for Word 97, when the return on investment is recouped in a few years, not a century? How many fewer movies would be produced if the copyright lasted only 20 years, instead of 120?
Science and the useful arts would be better promoted with a much shorter copyright period. Having the copyright lapse on Word 97 would encourage Microsoft to make a new product that people would want to buy (instead of a new product that people have to buy because the old version is no longer sold and not compatible with new products, even though the vast majority of users do not need or want the “enhancements” in the new product.)
Like subsidies to corporate agriculture and tax breaks for oil companies, music and software publishers have convinced Congress to increase copyright term for their own greed, even though the increased terms run counter to the purpose of the copyright law, “promote the arts.”
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