It is not
authors doing the suing here. It is the big four publishers. All the demonising of authors over this has gotten out of hand and should just stop.
That said, please explain[] just how* an author "can still make a living" without some form of copy-protection. And please refrain from the "signing tours", "selling merch", "live readings" nonsense. Writers in particular (but the visual arts, too) simply don't, on the whole, have the skills, inclination or desire to engage in much of that. The entire reason for engaging with the conventional publishing industry is to relieve an author of the tedious burden of sourcing artwork, arranging print and distribution, marketing and sales, leaving them free to write more stories -- what they do best. Self-pub can work for some writers, but they're the ones willing to sacrifice precious writing-time time on all those peripheral activities.
Bear in mind that the overwhelming majority of writers are writing in snatched hours in the early mornings/evening, over and above a "day job" to pay the rent and put food on the table. There's not a lot of time left over in a day to also become an editor/marketer/project manager.
eta [*]: and I genuinely mean: Just HOW should public policy look in order to provide some form of artistic protection for creators? It's easy to sit around and say "copyright is broken" (and I'd largely agree!) It's less easy to say what it might/ought become.