Lately I've been hearing people calling the Public Domain the "graveyard of ideas" or "where ideas go to die". Mostly people who take Razorfist a bit too seriously I notice...

But the public domain isn't a graveyard; it is the natural state of ideas.

At the end of the day, all the public domain does is provide creators with more material to work with. It's the creator that is to blame or praise when they when they make use of it for their own works.

Meritocracy sorts the problem out, if you'll just be patient and let it. Take the good; toss the bad.