Law Commons^™

Property, Persona, And Publicity, Deven R. Desai

Deven R. Desai

This article focuses on a paradox latent within the nature of creative phenomenon: although one can find strong arguments for control over intangible creations during one’s life, these arguments falter if not fail after the creator dies. Two interconnected problems posed by the growth of online creation illustrate the problem. First, unlike analog creations, important digital creations such as emails are mediated and controlled by second parties. Thus although these creations are core intellectual property, they are not treated as such and service providers terminate or deny access to people’s property all the time. In addition, when one dies, some …