I've been thinking a lot about copyright terms lately, and this is what I have come up with: You get 5 years for "free", just like we have now. The next 5 years cost you $10k. The next costs you $100k. Add a zero every 5 years. It's going to be very difficult to keep a copyright for more than 20 or 25 years, but if it's really worth that much to you, then by all means...