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.