I agree with several things you say here, but this doesn't make any sense: "Isn't it a damn shame that Mickey Mouse, after three-quarters of a century, being a character our grandparents enjoyed, isn't somebody we can have? That the cultural contributions of John Coltrane aren't ours to enjoy?"
It what sense aren't you yet able to 'have' Mickey Mouse?? Or 'enjoy' the cultural contributions of John Coltrane?
Your statement would only make sense if companies were removing these products from the marketplace and using copyright to ensure their removal. In the case of true orphaned works, I have a different mindset - but Mickey Mouse and John Coltrane are widely and continuously available in society because someone can make money off it.
Mickey Mouse and John Coltrane are widely and continuously available because people enjoy them. If their copyrights expired tomorrow there would still be plenty of Coltrane MP3s and torrents out there a year from now. However try playing Coltrane in your restaurant without paying a license or try uploading Steamboat Willy to youtube to show the world this strange old cartoon you found. Then you'll discover that people are prevented from enjoying these works because companies are using copyright to remove them.
It what sense aren't you yet able to 'have' Mickey Mouse?? Or 'enjoy' the cultural contributions of John Coltrane?
Your statement would only make sense if companies were removing these products from the marketplace and using copyright to ensure their removal. In the case of true orphaned works, I have a different mindset - but Mickey Mouse and John Coltrane are widely and continuously available in society because someone can make money off it.