Intellectual Property Rights: Too long?

I'm all for intellectual rights and rewarding those who come up with ideas that revolutionize the world. Water purification systems, solar panels, the human genome. These are just some of the things that originated in the mind of an individual and were engineered and refined over the years. Providing life, energy and understanding to the history of man. But at what point does that person or company get to hold onto the patent right of that creation? At what point does the intellectual property belong to all of mankind and shared freely among the rich and poor? Well, I say 10 years. In that time, the product or idea will be able to reach a large amount of people and the intellectual property owner will be able to earn more money than he can spend. I guess that's the problem I have with patent rights in general. The owner gets to keep the rights for a long long time. Case in point is with Disney. They've managed to extend ownership of Mickey Mouse for over 70 years by hiring lobbyists to keep changing the laws. Same goes for the pharmaceutical industry. They've managed to keep patents by changing the pill from a tablet to a caplet and with a straight face, say that it is a completely different product. These drugs should have gone generic a long time ago, thereby making them more affordable and accessible to many. Eh, maybe I'm a little sour because I keep coming up with ideas for things but don't have the know-how to actually create them. I'd be happy if someone took one of my ideas, created the product and then gave some of the credit to me. I don't need a lot of money or fame. In fact, I don't want fame, a nice house and economic freedom is all I want.