Intellectual Property vs. Creative Freedom

?When copyright legislation was first passed in the United States in 1790, the term of copyright lasted for 14 years, with the option of renewal for another 14. The law's primary function, moreover, was to ensure that authors could profit from the sales of their own work, not control any work that could be derivative. Today, after numerous extensions, a work is under copyright for the author's lifetime plus 70 years?or 120 years for works of corporate authorship."