| > It is putting an ownership over an artifact You can copy the idea though And I say copy because before the author made it in the form of an artifact, you didn't know it could be done, or you could have done it on your own. I can draw ocean waves, nobody owns ocean waves But if I cooy verbatim hokusai ocean waves, it's mehhhhhhhh I'm a ripoff loser and should be punished for doing it Edit: but I like your closing sentence. Free for all to use it as they see fit is an interesting thought, however I think that imbalance of the means of production will always make the corporations the ultimate beneficiaries, so we should also rethink how our economic system works. For example: if I could copy the avengers, people would say "it's a cheap copy of Disney's original" and I would hardly make any money out of it. It's an interesting POV nonetheless. |
You are totally free to copy that painting in whatever way you want. There is literally zero intellectual property attached to it. This isn't a hypothetical, it is the law right now. Nobody can stop you painting a replica and selling it, as long as you disclose that it is a replica. It is in the public domain and there will be no punishment.