We were confronted with these issues thirty years ago, and I wrote a proposal which was ignored. But the essence is this:

1 Since IP in the Constitution does not distinguish copyright from patents and so forth, collapse all the laws into one that specifically captures the modern sense of what the Constitution intends. Patents are failing just like copyrights and for most of the same reasons.

2. Identify types of authorship that we wish to protect very precisely into different types and allow the type list to be modified with additions and subtractions by future law under that framework.

3. For every type associate what "for a time" means. Some types may have "for a time" as little as a few days. Others may have many years. Some may have, for example, the life of the creator (to vanish on his death).

4. Stipulate that only humans, not corporations, are protected...and only humans can receive the protection. As the Constitution says.

Getting IP then involves humans proving they are human (presumably with DNA for example). If more than one human is involved, agree up front to percentage of monetary distribution. Every type of creation must have an accepted type stipulated up front with the creator selecting the type is correctly claimed (answers to a set of questions for the type in question with audit by the USPTO possible. Not permission (no delay). This is akin to copyright which simply allows a registration but is granted automatically as 'received'. There is no delay in getting protected, and no "publication" by the USPTO except that which can be audited (like a tax form and having appropriate backup documentation.

5. As we already do with music, have automatic fees paid to the creator (and unfortunately the label)...but now just the creator. The license fee structure is up front and the creator doesn't need to beg or bother.

That's it.