I’m speaking of creative works in particular. I’m generally in favor of the media entering the public domain when the artist dies, but when something enters the public decay, shit gets weird. Having Spongebob as IP keeps him on rails for who he is as a character. Change that, Spongebob as a character is changed by the public that could make the original unrecognizable. What’s the line when a derivative work becomes it’s own IP? What do you think?
The original term of US copyright, assuming nickelodeon was studious about filing to renew copyrights, would have the Spongebob copyright expiring in three years.
Never forget what was stolen from us.