Fertile Ground: Law, Innovation and Creative Technologies

This paper explores the current obsession in copyright law with technology and innovation policy. The notion that innovation creates value underpins much conventional copyright discourse, feeding from and back into broader discussions about technological change and the economy. Many of the technologies in issue involve reproduction and dissemination, suggesting that value is inherent in the technology itself. The idea that innovation is threatened by copyright law is also of currency, informing recent and ongoing global 'digital agenda' law reform. This paper explores the usefulness of both these concepts reflecting on the legal response to a wide range of technological developments: telegraphy, photography, sound recording, broadcasting, cinema and internet networks.