The Economist On Why Copyright Needs To Return To Its Roots

The life expectancy in the UK 300 years ago was approximately 35 years. [source: http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/seminarpapers/dg09102006.pdf ] This meant that a copyright period of 14 - 28 years was sufficient to cover the average person's lifespan (assuming people did not write books before the age of 7!). One could therefore argue that a longer period might be justifiable. Personally, I do not think that a reduced copyright period of 14 - 28 years would stifle commercial creativity in any way.