Are innovation and creativity helped or hindered by our intellectual
property laws? In the two hundred plus years since the Constitution
enshrined protections for those who create and innovate, we're still
debating the merits of IP laws and whether or not they actually work as
intended. Artists, scientists, businesses, and the lawyers who serve
them, as well as the Americans who benefit from their creations all
still wonder: what facilitates innovation and creativity in our digital
age? And what role, if any, do our intellectual property laws play in
the growth of innovation and creativity in the United States?
Incentivizing the "progress of science and the useful arts" has been the
goal of intellectual property law since our constitutional beginnings.
The Eureka Myth cuts through the current debates and goes straight to
the source: the artists and innovators themselves. Silbey makes sense of
the intersections between intellectual property law and creative and
innovative activity by centering on the stories told by artists,
scientists, their employers, lawyers and managers, describing how and
why they create and innovate and whether or how IP law plays a role in
their activities. Their employers, business partners, managers, and
lawyers also describe their role in facilitating the creative and
innovative work. Silbey's connections and distinctions made between the
stories and statutes serve to inform present and future innovative and
creative communities.
Breaking new ground in its examination of the U.S. economy and cultural
identity, The Eureka Myth draws out new and surprising conclusions
about the sometimes misinterpreted relationships between creativity and
intellectual property protections.
