You can't incent a dead person. No matter what we do, Nathaniel Hawthorne will not produce any more works, no matter how much we pay him.
– Lawrence Lessig
When government disappears, it's not as if paradise will take its place. When governments are gone, other interests will take their place.
– Lawrence Lessig
The real harm of term extension comes not from these famous works. The real harm is to the works that are not famous, not commercially exploited, and no longer available as a result.
– Lawrence Lessig
Of all the creative work produced by humans anywhere, a tiny fraction has continuing commercial value. For that tiny fraction, the copyright is a crucially important legal device.
– Lawrence Lessig
A culture without property, or in which creators can't get paid, is anarchy, not freedom.