Well, before the 90s, copyright was defined by a copyright symbol and publication date. Now, that symbol is merely a formality, which kinda defeats the purpose of why it was there in the first place. And, I mean, good luck policing the internet.

Anyway, copyright was only formed for monetization reasons in exchange for protection, and works were supposed to enter into the public domain within a decade or two. If that was still the case, we wouldn’t need Patreon.