Copy, right, copyright: An anti-manifesto against intellectual property.

The article critically examines the intertwined cultural legitimacy of authorship and the legal framework of copyright, arguing that both concepts mutually reinforce each other while obscuring the complexities and limitations of creative production. It highlights how copyright law attempts to codify art's inherent mimetic plurality—its fundamental nature of repetition and imitation—by legally fixing authorship and ownership, despite art often emerging from embodied, processual, and communal practices that resist notions of a singular, finished work. Through diverse examples, including Indigenous art, postmodern appropriation, and legal disputes like Blanch v. Koons, the article reveals the tensions between the fluidity of artistic creation and the rigid demands of intellectual property law, which often alienates creators from their work and imposes fixed meanings. Ultimately, it calls for a nuanced understanding of authorship that acknowledges the historical, cultural, and legal contingencies shaping intellectual property, without assuming its permanence or universality.