'No man is an island': Why the 'Solitary Genius' Is a Too Narrow Approach on Creativity in a Digital Context

Abstract

This article focuses on the notion of creativity found in copyright law, which is opposed to the ways in which creativity seems to develop in daily practice; the idea of a ‘solitary genius’ is thus contrasted to that of a contextually and culturally dependent creator. Copyright is arguably too focused on the former image and fails to acknowledge or embrace the latter. In addition, the digital context which is also taken into account has contributed in many ways to broadening our views on creative practices and collective collaboration. The norm perspective found in the discipline of Sociology of Law, which is the theoretical support of our analysis, is of relevance not only to studies of norms in relation to creativity but also to those approaches the objective of which is to highlight the ways in which many legal concepts have been both challenged as well as trans formed and expanded in the attempts to regulate the digital domain. Finally, the analysis also shows that new expressions and metaphors are formed in an attempt to grasp and capture the new social and creative practices in an online context, while traditional concepts may suffer a ‘conceptual lock-in’.