Creating copyrightable intellectual property is an investment, where you spend many hours doing work for free in the hopes that it'll pay off in the long term.

Creating copyrightable intellectual property is an investment, where you spend many hours doing work for free in the hopes that it'll pay off in the long term. What you are saying is "too bad, you have to do a bunch of work for free, then continue doing a bunch of work indefinitely into the future, otherwise we'll steal your investment." Nobody would say that your stock purchases should expire if you're not actively meeting with a financial advisor or following the market. "Finders keepers, you weren't using your copyright" is just a recipe for artists to get robbed by lawyers.