I’m speaking of creative works in particular. I’m generally in favor of the media entering the public domain when the artist dies, but when something enters the public decay, shit gets weird. Having Spongebob as IP keeps him on rails for who he is as a character. Change that, Spongebob as a character is changed by the public that could make the original unrecognizable. What’s the line when a derivative work becomes it’s own IP? What do you think?
Copyright’s purpose is to improve the public domain. If it doesn’t do that, then its harmful and should be reduced or abolished.
To keep copyrighted content relevant at the point it enters the public domain, copyright should be shortened to 20 years for creative works (films, music, paintings, Spongebob).
Consider the current public domain, which contains things like fairy tales. People remix and retell fairy tales all the time, and it makes for good stories.