This might be one law that works as intended. How would you like to spill your guts running a book and somebody else publishes it and takes all the money?
Yes, and no. The biggest problem I have is that it has been extended so many times and is now so long that it actually does a severe disservice to the public, and mainly only benefits corporations, that are essentially immortal.The original copyright term was 14 years, for which you could apply for one extension giving a total of 28 years of protections, which actually longer than almost any work actually needs. It is interesting to look at historical data and see what small percentage of copyrighted works were ever extended to the full 28 year term.I would strongly favor a return to the 28-year maximum. The entirety of the Beatles catalog should be in the public domain my now.