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Most people I know don't have any concept that copyright does or should expire. They think if Disney makes a movie, it's Disney's movie forever.

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If it didn’t, Disney would not exist, given all the public domain works they have built the company off of.

> Disney would not exist

Nonsense. Disney would make plenty of money on Frozen 17 with Snow White in the public domain. Extreme copyright lifetimes just stifle public creativity and are an excuse to implement draconian and authoritarian practices.

I assume PP meant if copyright didn't expire, Disney wouldn't exist.

Though I'm not sure that Disney would have been deterred in every case.

I know, but they don't. Outside of creative tech/art spheres, most people don't know much of anything about copyright, and telling them about "works expiring into the public domain" seems to violate their preconceived ideas about "property". It's tragic.

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