IMO, the length of utility patents should be guarded way more jealously than the length of copyright. Unlike copyright, a patent gives you a true monopoly over

IMO, the length of utility patents should be guarded way more jealously than the length of copyright. Unlike copyright, a patent gives you a true monopoly over its subject - you can prevent other people from using an idea even if they came up with it independently. At their worst, patents can stifle further developments in a field. Copyright, even with a ridiculously long term, at least has the property that you can't use it to stop other people doing things independently, so it can't block whole fields in the same way. So the length disparity isn't necessarily unjustifiable.