This wouldn't be an issue if copyright expired after 10 years, which seems like a reasonable length to me. Or if a work going out of "print" (or equivalent dep

This wouldn't be an issue if copyright expired after 10 years, which seems like a reasonable length to me. Or if a work going out of "print" (or equivalent depending on thee medium) some limited number of years forfeits the copyright. This common situation where a work is still protected by copyright, but isn't available for purchase and it isn't even feasible to determine who currently holds the copyright is just not ok.