Well, for copyright, I always thought there should be two kinds: 1. Private — untaxed, lasts for 14 years (or until the death of the last author), goes into Pu

Well, for copyright, I always thought there should be two kinds: 1. Private — untaxed, lasts for 14 years (or until the death of the last author), goes into Public Domain. No need for registration; and, 2. Public — any work (before it's expired) an be transferred to a Public work. At that point some sort of Harberger tax scheme would kick in. Obviously, picking a number like "14" distorts the market — works that take off after 14 years are going to be undervalued, which sucks. OTOH, the point of copyright is that the opposite distortion — free-for-all — is considered bad.