I know this will not sit well with a lot of people but personally I think a reasonable amount of time for a person to get reimbursed for the one single idea should be 20 years.  It is stupid that we cannot sing Happy Birthday in a public place unless we pay a family 4 generations removed for the use of it..

It should be enough to recoup, make a profit, and get the atta boys in that much time..  Then it should be a gift to humanity.  That way every bright person could improve on it and we would go into the future by leaps and bounds.

Sorry for my two cents worth, but, the way everything is now we should pay some cave man every time we cook a hot dog for the fire................................