"Preface" [2019] ELECD 792; in Griffin, James (ed), "The State of Creativity" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) viii

Book Title: The State of Creativity

Editor(s): Griffin, James

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section Title: Preface

Number of pages: 3

Extract:

Preface
This monograph has been a long time in the making. The process of creation in
many respects mirrored the arguments of the work itself. To grapple with the
underlying rationales for copyright protection, I began to investigate not just
the traditional reasons for copyright protection, but why it is that there is any
form of regulation over what human beings produce. The scope of the work
has required research over numerous fields that are not the usual prescribed
hunting ground for a legal academic, but it has, I hope, resulted in a work that
brings new perspectives to the growing modern-day interest in creativity. The
argument of the monograph is that whilst creativity has been central to the
development of the State, creativity has become side-lined and is not held in
high regard by the State, and that this imperils the future of the State. Despite
the centrality of creativity, it is quite incredible how legal regulation has
shifted away from creativity as a concept, to be replaced with other concepts
which mimic creative processes ­ and it is a story that deserves to be told.
As an academic in a university, I see the same issues present within the UK
university system, and the production of this monograph has seen the position
of the State mirrored within the university. The administrative pressures
present within universities leading to the reduction of our zones of creative dis-
course, the pressures of REF and other exercises that seek to administratively
...