Do patent and copyright law restrict competition and creativity excessively? Posner; Becker-Posner Blog, 9/30/12

Becker-Posner Blog; Do patent and copyright law restrict competition and creativity excessively? Posner: "The most serious problem with copyright law is the length of copyright protection, which for most works is now from the creation of the work to 70 years after the author’s death. Apart from the fact that the present value of income received so far in the future is negligible, obtaining copyright licenses on very old works is difficult because not only is the author in all likelihood dead, but his heirs or other owners of the copyright may be difficult or even impossible to identify or find. The copyright term should be shorter."