> If let's say Star Wars falls out of copyright tomorrow, economically that has two effects. One, Disney loses a ton of future revenue. Two, countless Disney other people create derivatives of Star Wars, and they make money from those. Competition is increased.
Three, the derivatives are made and Disney starts marketing "Disney's Star Wars" which continue to be the high-demand (and high-value) versions. The situation is unchanged.
For example, you can currently buy The Little Mermaid in non-Disney form[1], but Disney's version is what most people want.
Truckers are largely using diesel, which has a different excise tax (currently at $0.389/gallon)[1].
Maintaining a higher rate of speed burns fuel faster. According to a random site I found[2] (sorry, I'm not a trucker), an operator self-reported that efficiency goes down by about 1mpg when speed is increased from 55mph to 65mph.
The average price of on-highway diesel in California is currently $6.277/gallon[3]. Taking a hypothetical load from Long Beach to Sacramento (~400 miles) at 55mph will take 7.27 hrs and burn 57 gallons. Doing the same at 65mph will take 6.15 hrs and 66 gallons. In this hypothetical situation, the driver saves about an hour, and spends an additional $56 on fuel.
If the driver is paid hourly (unlikely) and paid more than $56/hr (unlikely), then the faster driving could be potentially worth the increased fuel cost. This is generally not true though, and driving faster does not reduce the cost of transport.
Even if the diesel excise tax goes up $0.02/gal (my brief searching didn't find out how much it will go up), in our hypothetical scenario this only adds $1.14 to the slower haul -- which is not a meaningful amount.
Why?