We established a regime that left creativity unregulated. Now it was unregulated because copyright law only covered "printing." Copyright law did not control derivative work. And copyright law granted this protection for the limited time of 14 years. — 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 of 95 years. This is a bastardization of the Constitution's requirement that copyright be for "limited times." — 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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
Code plus law is combining to reduce rights consumers used to have. — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
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 Image
Politics is that rare sport where the amateur contest is actually more interesting than the professional. — 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 survival of… — 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 the rights… — Lawrence Lessig Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
