A Lee Martinez discusses copyright on his blog, and how it’s detrimental to creativity, and to original creators:
Certainly, not every character is timeless and a character or a concept might have a great appeal for a limited time. But some ideas and characters are so transcendent that they can stick around for a really, really long time. Batman is a great example. While he’s had his ups and downs, he has never really disappeared from the public consciousness. That’s because he’s pretty damn flexible as a concept. You can do goofy Batman stories, dark Batman stories, sci fi Batman stories, noir Batman stories, and so on. While he hasn’t always been a cash cow, he is certainly unlikely to be replaced anytime soon. He’s a product without an expiration date, one that can be repackaged and sold over and over again. This isn’t so bad if his creator and owner is mortal. But once that owner is an immortal corporation, you end up with a real desire not to innovate. If you doubt me, I can only point out that DC has created a new version that starts with his origin all over again. Because we haven’t seen that enough.