Color of Creatorship: Intellectual Property, Race, and the Making of Americans

The Color of Creatorship explores how copyright, trademark, and patent discourses work together to shape American ideals around race, citizenship, and property, revealing that American understandings of who is a creator and who is an infringer have remained remarkably racially conservative and consistent over time.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 296 pages
Publication date: 29 September 2020
Publisher: Stanford University Press

The Color of Creatorship delves into the intricate interplay between copyright, trademark, and patent discourses to shape American ideals concerning race, citizenship, and property. Anjali Vats, in her comprehensive analysis spanning key intellectual property historical moments since 1790, unveils that, despite apparent evolution, American perceptions of creators and infringers have remained remarkably racially conservative and consistent over time. Through a meticulous examination of archival, legal, political, and popular culture texts, Vats demonstrates how intellectual properties have coalesced alongside definitions of the good citizen, the bad citizen, and intellectual labor, all within the framework of racialization. By offering a theory of critical race intellectual property, Vats historicizes the figure of the citizen-creator, the white male maker who was seamlessly integrated into the national ideology as a vital contributor to the nation's moral and economic development. She also traces the emergence of racial panics surrounding infringement, arguing that the post-racial creator exists as a counterpoint to the hyper-racial infringer, a perceived national enemy who stands in stark contrast to the hardworking and innovative American creator.

The Color of Creatorship makes a significant contribution to the rapidly evolving discourse in critical race intellectual property. Vats argues that by addressing the underlying racial structures of intellectual property law, anti-racist activists can effectively advocate for strategies that challenge the root causes of racially disparate copyright, patent, and trademark policy. This book offers valuable insights into the complex dynamics between race, intellectual property, and societal norms, paving the way for more inclusive and equitable policies in the realm of creativity and innovation.

Weight: 466g
Dimension: 153 x 228 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781503610958