The concept of "intellectual property" is modern, artificial, and dubious. It conflates patent and copyright and is used to suppress innovation and guarantee income for entities who do not contribute to innovation. In the Constitution, patent and copyright were to be secured for a "limited time", for the benefit of discoverers, inventors, and creators. Modern law enforces copyright beyond the reasonable lifetime of the creator ensuring that new works will never enter the public domain in anyone's lifetime, and the conflation means derivative work must leap an impossible bar to be considered derivative and not identical. Thus there is no effective limit.
I read an analysis which applied modern rules to the invention of the steam engine. The conclusion was all of modern technology would be infringing on the intellectual property of the inventor of the steam engine. Thomas Newcomen's descendants would own the world.
I agree that copyrights extend beyond a reasonable time frame, but that aside, they encourage competition rather than stifle it. Why look for a better solution to something if just anyone can now copy your work and produce it without incurring the costs associated with development or licensing?