Our analysis suggests at least two results of interest to legislators, lanyers, and scholars alike. First, it contributes to the normative debate around copyright's incentive-access paradigm by proposing a more efficient conception of copyright's term for information goods: namely, one that replaces the convenional" ife plus" duraional standard with one based on the commercial viability of the average work. Second, it demonstrates that advocates' and legislators' tendeny to focus on a~ jpical works leads to overprotection of the average work, suggesting that copyright's term is not nearly as significant for copyright owners as conventional wisdom submits.