The law was supposed to protect the investment in time and money by the work's author. If you couldn't profit from a creative endeavor, why bother? Then, after a reasonable period of time, work was supposed to enter the public domain so society as a whole would benefit from derivative works.

Instead, our copyright system has been perverted into a cash cow for corporations who re-release the same stuff decade after decade, hardly adding any value to society.

Meanwhile, new artists are prevented from building on the works of stuff as old as 50 years without paying prohibitive licensing fees.

This stifles creativity and leaves artists and corporations with little incentive to create new work. Why bother if you can perpetually profit from the old stuff?