[maker1138]

The biggest problem is intellectual property. Copyright lasts life + 70 years and patents last 20 years. That's a long time to have a legal monopoly on something, and is partly why companies are so big and can behave so badly.

Innovation comes through competition, not monopoly. Ideally, we'd eliminate patents and copyrights altogether, but as a compromise, I think having terms of 3 years, with no renewals, is fair. That way a business can capitalize on what it creates and get a 3 year head start on competition, but you still get competition fairly soon which benefits consumers.

[Santosh83]

I agree although three years seems a bit too short. I would say copyright for 10 years and no software patents altogether. Also copyrighting APIs seems like it warrants a close re-look as well. Then again, none of the "leaders" of any of the nations are listening are they? They are almost unanimously aligning behind big-business interests.

[hyperdunc]

I doubt reducing the monopoly period would stop companies from pushing DRM, but the length of IP protection is ridiculous and has to change.

3 years will never happen, though. 10-15 years for copyright and 5 years for patents is more reasonable.

[majewsky]

I saw a study some years ago that compared the interests of copyright holders of that of consumers, and concluded that 14 years after initial publication (non-renewable of course) is the optimal duration for copyright.