If most rightsholders didn't renew their copyrights, when renewal was required to maintain copyright protection, this supports Lawrence @lessig's proposal to reinstate the renewal requirement. See e.g. his _Future of Ideas_ (2001), p. 252:
https://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/bitstream/handle/10535/5710/lessig_FOI.pdf

"If a copyright isn’t worth it to an author to renew for a modest fee, then it isn’t worth it to society to support —through an array of criminal and civil statutes— the monopoly protected."

#Copyright #Renewal #Monopoly #PublicDomain

@petersuber @lessig

And creators that can't afford it lose their rights?

@simon_lucy
Such a mandated fee must be reasonably low, reflecting only the societal costs connected to upholding the copyright, manhours clearing rights, etc.

If the results the copyright holder receive from paying the fee do not cover the amount paid, then it's a strong indicator that the overhead is also too expensive for society - us - to justify paying.

@petersuber

@Holten @simon_lucy @petersuber "must" be? Hmm. Do we really think that will be the case? In our monopoly enabled economy, and then think about AI data dumps and analysis.

The outcome could well be that wealthy corporations are the only ones who end up able to afford them and smaller users are forced to sell their copyright to them ...