2 - Self-Actualization and the Need to Create As a Limit on Copyright

Summary

Personhood theory figures prominently in virtually every list of justifications for intellectual property in general and copyright in particular. Typically ascribed to the philosophical ideas of Georg William Friedrich Hegel and Immanuel Kant, this theory posits that authors have such deep connections with their creations that respect for their sense of self requires giving them a degree of ongoing control over those works. In essence, works are treated as extensions of the author’s person. As such, certain types of interference with those works would be tantamount to intruding on a part of the author’s body.