Fin Fang Foom wrote:
When I said "That isn't how or why the law was devised," I meant that it wasn't specifically devised for the benefit of a copyright holder's decendents (as though they were some sort of special class), just that it sometimes works out that way.
In most cases reversion starts 56 years after the work was created, and lasts until 70 years after the death of the author. I don't think it's a stretch to say that since most people won't live into their 80s, most reversion claims, by design, will be brought by the descendants of the author, and in virtually every case the bulk of the benefit of the reversion (the 70 years after the death of the author) will be enjoyed by the descendants.  Even if he'd lived and the courts agreed with his claim, Kirby wouldn't actually get the rights to the FF until just before he turned 100.