I was just explaining the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act ("SBCEA") to a few people and so I decided to post up my understanding of it here.
The SBCEA extends existing and future copyright protection to 75 years after the original creator's death. In terms of intellectual property, that is a long, long time.
You might not think much about your creations when you make them, but you are granted rights to your creations. Whether and how you exploit those rights is up to you.