front cover of "Free Culture" by Lawrence Lessig


About This Ebook


On March 25, 2004, Professor Lessig released a PDF version of this book under a Creative Commons license. This HTML version, produced by José Menéndez and amended by Zachary Brewster-Geisz, is released under the same license.


Creative Commons "Some Rights Reserved" icon


This HTML version of Free Culture is licensed
under a Creative Commons license. This license permits
non-commercial use of this work,
so long as attribution is given.

For more information about the license,
click the icon above, or visit
<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/1.0/>.




ALSO BY LAWRENCE LESSIG

The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons
in a Connected World

Code: And Other Laws of Cyberspace



FREE CULTURE
  HOW BIG MEDIA USES TECHNOLOGY AND
  THE LAW TO LOCK DOWN CULTURE
  AND CONTROL CREATIVITY
LAWRENCE LESSIG



The Penguin Press
a member of
Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
375 Hudson Street
New York, New York 10014

Copyright © Lawrence Lessig, 2004
All rights reserved

Excerpt from an editorial titled “The Coming of Copyright Perpetuity,”
The New York Times, January 16, 2003. Copyright © 2003 by The New York Times Co.
Reprinted with permission.

Cartoon by Paul Conrad on page 159. Copyright Tribune Media Services, Inc.
All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.
Diagram on page 164 courtesy of the office of FCC Commissioner, Michael J. Copps.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lessig, Lawrence.
Free culture : how big media uses technology and the law to lock down
culture and control creativity / Lawrence Lessig.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 1-59420-006-8 (hardcover)
1. Intellectual property—United States. 2. Mass media—United States.
3. Technological innovations—United States. 4. Art—United States. I. Title.

KF2979.L47 2004
343.7309'9—dc22       2003063276

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2


Designed by Marysarah Quinn


Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.


The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.





To Eric Eldred—whose work first drew me
to this cause, and for whom
it continues still.