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Lawrence Lessig

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description Lawrence Lessig Overview

Lawrence Lessig is an American legal scholar and the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He is widely recognized for his advocacy regarding reduced copyright restrictions and the intersection of technology and law. Lessig founded the Creative Commons organization, which provides standardized licensing to encourage the sharing of creative works.

Additionally, he has been a prominent activist for campaign finance reform and reducing the influence of money in politics.

help Lawrence Lessig FAQ

What did Lawrence Lessig mean by "code is law"?

In his 1999 book Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, Lessig argued that software architecture can regulate online behavior much as legal rules do. His framework also identified law, social norms, markets, and architecture as four forms of constraint.

What was Lawrence Lessig's role in creating Creative Commons?

Lessig helped establish Creative Commons in 2001 with Hal Abelson and Eric Eldred. The organization released its first copyright licenses in 2002 so creators could grant standardized reuse permissions.

Why was Lessig involved in Eldred v. Ashcroft?

He argued the constitutional challenge to the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act before the US Supreme Court. The Court rejected the challenge in 2003, leaving the 20-year copyright-term extension in place.

Which Lawrence Lessig book is the best introduction to his copyright arguments?

Free Culture, published in 2004, is his most accessible sustained argument about copyright, technology, and cultural reuse. Readers interested in internet regulation can follow it with Code or the revised Code Version 2.0.