copyright

I know I harp... but let's compare "copyright" (patent, or whatever the correct term is) for science/medicine versus pretty much everything else - a book, movie, or piece of music is now protected for so long, it's basically forever.

Drug companies must invest heavily in R&D to create new drugs, because their patents run out relatively quickly (7 years is it?). Of course, they must charge more for their work to recoup spent money and make enough money for R&D - but the system works.

So if creative, artistic copyright went back to 7 or 14 or 20 years, might artists and writers be more productive? Would JK Rowlings be publishing a new Harry Potter every year? Would Dan Brown have written 3 sequels to the Divinci Code by now? The point is they don't have to - they have a guarenteed income source for years to come. Imagine if Shakespeare had stopped writing because he had published enough books and had them all turned into movies.