> The idea back then was to give a specific author the ability to profit from their own work while they were alive and for another generation or so and then fre

> The idea back then was to give a specific author the ability to profit from their own work while they were alive and for another generation or so and then free that work to benefit the general public; 95/70 years was just like 'that's way longer than anybody lives'. Copyright was originally 28 years, and has been increasing linearlyish ever since: long copyrights are a recent phenomenon. Also, it's 70 years plus the author's lifetime. There are nice charts in Wikipedia. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_United_...