"In 1774, free culture was born. In a case called Donaldson v. Beckett in the House of Lords in England, free culture was made because copyright was stopped. In 1710, the statute had said that copyright should be for a limited term of just 14 years. But in the 1740s, when Scottish publishers started reprinting classics — you gotta' love the Scots — the London publishers said "Stop!" They said, "Copyright is forever!"... These publishers demanded a common-law copyright that would be forever. In 1769, in a case called Miller v. Taylor, they won their claim, but just five years later, in Donaldson, Miller was reversed, and for the first time in history, the works of Shakespeare were freed, freed from the control of a monopoly of publishers. Freed culture was the result of that case."

“Law and technology produce, together, a kind of regulation of creativity we've not seen before.”

“IT Conversations - Audio programs featuring Lessig”

“One thing we know about incentives is you can't incent a dead person. No matter what we do, Hawthorne will not produce any more works, we can give him all the money in the world.”

“I've told a dark story. The truth is more mixed. A technology has given us a new freedom. Slowly, some begin to understand that this freedom need not mean anarchy. We can carry a free culture into the twenty-first century, without artists losing and without the potential of digital technology being destroyed. ... Common sense must revolt. It must act to free culture. Soon, if this potential is ever to be realized.”

“coverage of Lessig's opposition to the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act”

“The "Dinosaurs" Are Taking Over - Buisnessweek”