Copyright and Public Goods: An Argument for Thin Copyright Protection Finally, I will summarize a few of the changes to intellectual property law that Lessig proposes in favor of a more just copyright regime. I will then outline the most common defense used by those who engage in copyright infringement (a defense which Lessig believes has been extended beyond its usefulness): fair use. To adequately address his book I will first outline an argument for thin copyright protection based on what I term copyrightable goods. He believes that (at least in the long run) this inclination harms those rooted in creativity and that, instead of reinforcing the trend, the Internet 'should at least force us to rethink the conditions under which the law of copyright applies' (140). However, with the pervasive influence of the Internet, Lessig believes that now the scales are being tipped against individuals and toward industry (a change that such groups as the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America have lobbied for).

Fortunately, congress reacted to new technologies with only slight changes to copyright law, thereby helping to preserve a vibrant public sphere. The central claim of Free Culture is that in the past decisions could have been made that would have both stunted (or destroyed) major technological industries and unnecessarily infringed upon the public domain. The reasons for the defeat are delineated in Lessig's latest book Free Culture, a synthesis of recent popular thought on copyright. Ashcroft, a challenge to the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. In 1998 Lessig represented Web site operator Eric Eldred in the ground-breaking case Eldred v. Stanford law professor and first-tier cyberlaw theorist Lawrence Lessig has probably thought more about the relationship between copyright, the Internet, and technology than any other intellectual.

Free culture by lawrence lessig