Copyrights have not expired, and will not expire, so long as Congress is free to be bought to extend them again. — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
We have a massive system to regulate creativity. A massive system of lawyers regulating creativity as copyright law has expanded in unrecognizable… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
Now that copyrights can be just about a century long, the inability to know what is protected and what is not protected… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
By the time Apple's Macintosh operating system finally falls into the public domain, there will be no machine that could possibly run… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
As we've seen, our constitutional system requires limits on copyright as a way to assure that copyright holders do not too heavily… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
The war against illegal file-sharing is like the church's age-old war against masturbation. It's a war you just can't win. — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
The danger in media concentration comes not from the concentration, but instead from the feudalism that this concentration, tied to the change… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
Of all the creative work produced by humans anywhere, a tiny fraction has continuing commercial value. For that tiny fraction, the copyright… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
I think if the copyright regime focuses on the people we are supposed to be helping, the artists and creators, and builds… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
The current term of protection for software is the life of an author plus 70 years, or, if it's work-for-hire, a total… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
We established a regime that left creativity unregulated. Now it was unregulated because copyright law only covered "printing." Copyright law did not… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
“The obvious point of Conrad’s cartoon is the weirdness of a world where guns are legal, despite the harm they can do,… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
We live in a world with "free" content, and this freedom is not an imperfection. We listen to the radio without paying… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
Copyright law has got to give up its obsession with 'the copy.' The law should not regulate 'copies' or 'modern reproductions' on… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
Creativity builds upon the public domain. The battle that we're fighting now is about whether the public domain will continue to be… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
If the only way a library can offer an Internet exhibit about the New Deal is to hire a lawyer to clear… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
But, like all metaphoric wars, the copyright wars are not actual conflicts of survival. Or at least, they are not conflicts for… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
I think the reality is that copyright law has for a very long time been a tiny little part of American jurisprudence,… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
“Economics itself offers a parallel that explains why this integration affects creativity. Clay Christensen has written about the “Innovator’s Dilemma”: the fact… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
Monopolies are not justified by theory; they should be permitted only when justified by facts. If there is no solid basis for… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
The crystal ball has a question mark in its center. There are some fundamental choices to be made. We will either choose… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
“If “piracy” means using value from someone else’s creative property without permission from that creator–as it is increasingly described today – then… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
This does not mean that every copyright must prove its value initially. That would be a far too cumbersome system of control.… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
It's fine to talk about politics with people you agree with. But it is rude to argue about politics with people you disagree with.… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share
As I've indicated, most books go out of print within one year. The same is true of music and film. Commercial culture is sharklike.… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share
I think the reality is that copyright law has for a very long time been a tiny little part of American jurisprudence, far removed… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share
Remember the refrain: We always build on the past; the past always tries to stop us. Freedom is about stopping the past, but we… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share
Politics is that rare sport where the amateur contest is actually more interesting than the professional. — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share
But, like all metaphoric wars, the copyright wars are not actual conflicts of survival. Or at least, they are not conflicts for survival of… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share
If the only way a library can offer an Internet exhibit about the New Deal is to hire a lawyer to clear the rights… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share
Some blame the drug companies. I don't. They are corporations. Their managers are ordered by law to make money for the corporation. They push… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share
By the time Apple's Macintosh operating system finally falls into the public domain, there will be no machine that could possibly run it. The… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share
As more and more citizens express what they think, and defend it in writing, that will change the way people understand public issues. It… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share
I think if the copyright regime focuses on the people we are supposed to be helping, the artists and creators, and builds a system… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share
There is still the illusion that if we could declare corporations are not people or that money is not speech, all would be solved.… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share
