At the same time, it's a shame to see good potential material go undeveloped simply because it's in someone's IP warehouse, stagnating. IP protection has societal benefit when it protects innovators who are actively enhancing their works, but when things just sit, it's not particularly socially helpful. It's analogous to the sort of patent troll that sits on a patent for a specific technology that they're not bothering to exploit, but sues everyone who does.
I understand people need to protect their brands, and that it's impossible to know whether a given work might be exploited in the future, how to resolve conflicts if a derivative work offends the original author, or whatever, but I definitely believe that our current IP regime is waaay overprotective in many cases and is having a chilling effect on business, science, and the arts.
