Editing Criticism of copyright (section)

===Authorship and creativity===
[[Lawrence Liang]], founder of the [[Alternative Law Forum]], argues that current copyright is based on a too narrow definition of "author", which is assumed to be clear and undisputed. Liang observes that the concept of "the author" is assumed to make universal sense across cultures and across time. Instead, Liang argues that the notion of the author as a unique and transcendent being, possessing originality of spirit, was constructed in Europe after the [[Industrial Revolution]], to distinguish the personality of the author from the expanding realm of mass-produced goods. Hence works created by "authors" were deemed original, and merges with the doctrine of [[property]] prevalent at the time.<ref name=autogenerated2>{{cite web | url = https://www.countercurrents.org/hr-suresh010205.htm | last = Liang | first = Lawrence | title = Copyright/Copyleft: Myths About Copyright | publisher = Infochangeindia.org | date = February 2005 | access-date = August 13, 2017 | archive-date = August 13, 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170813182938/https://www.countercurrents.org/hr-suresh010205.htm | url-status = live }}</ref>

Liang argues that the concept of "author" is tied to the notion of copyright and emerged to define a new social relationship—the way society perceives the ownership of knowledge. The concept of "author" thus naturalised a particular process of knowledge production where the emphasis on individual contribution and individual ownership takes precedence over the concept of "community knowledge".<ref name=autogenerated2 /> Relying on the concept of the author, copyright is based on the assumption that without an intellectual property rights regime, authors would have no incentive to further create, and that artists cannot produce new works without an economic incentive. Liang challenges this logic, arguing that "many authors who have little hope of ever finding a market for their publications, and whose copyright is, as a result, virtually worthless, have in the past, and even in the present, continued to write."<ref name=autogenerated2 /> Liang points out that people produce works purely for personal satisfaction, or even for respect and recognition from peers. Liang argues that the 19th Century saw the prolific authorship of literary works in the absence of meaningful copyright that benefited the author. In fact, Liang argues, copyright protection usually benefited the publisher, and rarely the author.<ref name=autogenerated2 />