According to a Reuters article, the UK Government has decided not to sleepwalk into extending copyright to 95 years (as in the USA) or even the minimum recommended by the recording industry of 70 years (as in Australia). This means that copyright in the UK will remain at 50 years.

I would like to congratulate the Government on this decision. As a member of an industry that is protected by copyright I recognize the value of a temporary monopoly over any work that I may create, but I am all to well aware of the overly constraining nature of long copyright.

Many in the content industries find this a difficult concept to accept, they understandably feel that if they created something then it is theirs, period. After all, if someone buys or builds a house then they own it, they can keep it for as long as they want, even pass it onto their kids. Shouldn't copyrighted works be the same?

No.

A house is a physical thing, there is only one of it, which can only be in use by one person (or one group) at one time, and it is unreasonable for you to be forced to share it with many others. A copyrighted work is different, it is a virtual thing made manifest into one or more mediums, there are many copies (in fact the rights holder normally wants there to be many copies), many people can be using it at one time, and everyone that comes into contact with it may be motivated or inspired by it.

Of course you can be inspired by a house too, but no-one is going to stop someone from building a house that happens to look a bit like yours are they?

To rights holders I say this: 50 years is a long time to have a monopoly, I don't doubt that a small number of your protected works still generate reasonable royalties (such as Mickey Mouse or the Happy Birthday song), but there has to be an end to it - let society build upon your creation rather than being constrained by it. Please.