I’m speaking of creative works in particular. I’m generally in favor of the media entering the public domain when the artist dies, but when something enters the public decay, shit gets weird. Having Spongebob as IP keeps him on rails for who he is as a character. Change that, Spongebob as a character is changed by the public that could make the original unrecognizable. What’s the line when a derivative work becomes it’s own IP? What do you think?
I think that license similar to what D&D has is having a cake and eating a cake. You open your word to be used which grows the community, but you remain the control on key characters and aspects, so your onwers intrests are protected.