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> But honestly: when and why should you be able to cash in on coffee mugs showing disney's rendering of the seven dwarfs?

When the copyright expires is both the when & why. Same as Disney did when they cashed in on the original story by the Brothers Grimm.

Granted, I don't expect the copyright to expire any time soon when they can retroactively extend it.

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How about in the case of "better quality mugs"? Trivial examples can often reveal important points, when examined closely. What if Disney Mugs, Inc, a solely-owned subsidiary of Giant Immoral MegaCorp, made very poor quality mugs, ones where the handles broke off? If you infringed copyright, and made unbreakable mugs, lots of parents and children would be very grateful.

... or toys with less lead in them... ;-)

http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/16/toys-product-safety-biz-com...

Sure, there's a million ways to make better quality or more desirable goods. That's why the monopoly part of copyrights is undesirable from a consumer's standpoint. Goods of lower quality command higher prices when they're copyrighted or patented.

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