The Future of Copyright

Larry Lessig ought to be a name familiar to those of us in the publishing industry. He has tirelessly promoted the cause of the Creative Commons which is, as it sounds, a common pool of primarily digital content that is available for use and re-use by members the community at large. Their tag line is “Share, Remix, Reuse — Legally” and they provide tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry.

Even if you’re unfamiliar with the concept of the Creative Commons, you’ve probably seen work licensed under these licenses on Flickr. All of the content on Wikipedia is licensed under similar terms.

In the following presentation, delivered at TED, he talks “… about copyright issues [and had] TEDsters to their feet, whooping and whistling, following this elegant presentation of three stories and an argument [and] in an homage to cutting-edge artistry, he throws in some of the most hilarious remixes you’ve ever seen.”