You know why patents and drugs have short terms, but copyright is very long?
Because the thing it is protecting is a luxury. It is unnecessary. No one will die if Mickey Mouse remains copyrighted in perpetuity, and the progress of humanity won't be stunned because you can't make youtube clips out of Winnie the Pooh.
You can just stop buying Disney merchandise if you don't like them. There is more public domain art than you can consume in a hundred years. Disney will stop lobing for copyright extensions once it no longer profitable.
I am going to be a contrarian here. The significance of the issue is overblown.
Copyright does not meaningfully harm creativity. Sure, you can't publish your Harry Potter fanfiction. But you can borrow all the themes you want from it. Magic schools, mysterious back-stories, dark lords and flying brooms can't be copyrighted.
Moreover, Disney cannot prevent you from using Pinocchio, Little Mermaid and the rest of the public domain stuff they have used.
Because the thing it is protecting is a luxury. It is unnecessary. No one will die if Mickey Mouse remains copyrighted in perpetuity, and the progress of humanity won't be stunned because you can't make youtube clips out of Winnie the Pooh.
You can just stop buying Disney merchandise if you don't like them. There is more public domain art than you can consume in a hundred years. Disney will stop lobing for copyright extensions once it no longer profitable.
Oh, and stop using Facebook while you are at it.