ABSTRACT

Creation is self-multiplication, creativity is creating self. The way in which the individual competitive and ambitious self is realised within intellectual property models of creativity is critical to understanding the way in which the application of the laws to characterise transactions of knowledge between individuals creates "classes" of users. Celebrity and the emerging right in publicity presents an intriguing example of the reach of "creativity" and the way in which the myth of the creator is sustained through an emphasis on the selfhood of the celebrity figure. The function of celebrity, therefore, is similar to that traced through the concept of "creator" in any other orientation of "intellectual property". In creating the universal public domain therefore, and in situating traditional knowledge within that fictive space, the relevance of local or traditional cultural identity and understanding is dis-organised. The preoccupation with the public, and with the preservation of the public domain, both frames and constrains the consideration of access.