Abstract

Following Lockean intuitions, many creators of digital artifacts claim inalienable moral rights to their non-rivalrous creations based on a belief that, since any given creation is exclusively the product of its creator’s labor, that creator is solely responsible for its existence. This claim of ownership is supported by what is often taken to be another axiomatic position: the creator is, by themself, responsible for the value added to the artifact achieved. I deflate these claims from both theologically informed Lockean and secular post-Lockean folk perspectives, by underscoring the part played by uncredited others in the creative process; here, I explore and defend what folklorists have called collective creation. I argue that the understanding of creation as a wholly independent endeavor wherein the creator creates within a vacuum is a Romantic fantasy that should be discarded. Since nothing is created in a way in which others do not contribute, those most responsible for the creation—so, those holding copyright to it—have an imperfect duty to share some of their digital/digitizable work with others, when they are able. This article is the first of a pair; the second article is published in Volume 23, Issue 2 of Information, Medium & Society; Journal of Publishing Studies.