> 28 years isn't even long enough for the author to die It is not supposed to. If you write a great best seller on your first shot and get paid for life, would

> 28 years isn't even long enough for the author to die It is not supposed to. If you write a great best seller on your first shot and get paid for life, would you be encouraged to try and write another one? Before copyright, artists lived under the wing of nobility which provided them with food and shelter in exchange for their creations. The problem with this system is there were not enough nobles around to finance all the starving artists. Also artists lucky enough to find a noble or king to finance them had to keep creating or get kicked out. Copyright was supposed to provide the same kind of incentive: you can live of your creation for a little while, but you have to keep creating. Then congress defined "a little while" as life + 70 years and the Supreme Court somehow agreed ... Edit: grammar Edit2: added congress to the mix