Harvard cyberlaw expert to speak at BGSU

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Bowling Green State University will host one of the pre-eminent experts on copyright reform and intellectual property, especially as it pertains to the Internet, in a Dec. 2 campus forum.

Lawrence Lessig of Harvard University will speak on “From Copyright to Corruption and Back Again” in a free, public talk at 7 p.m. in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union Theater.

A founder of the Creative Commons licensing organization and a free-culture activist, Lessig has spent his career battling overly restrictive copyright regulation before the U.S. Supreme Court and in Congress. A prolific and popular author on Internet culture, he is also well known for his expertise in cyberlaw and constitutional law.  

Since last summer, Lessig has been faculty director of Harvard Law School’s Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics, where he is focusing on questions of governance, corruption and the growing use of private money in public institutions. In his BGSU address, he will discuss topics including Web piracy, his role in the copyright wars and his new position at Harvard.

In addition to his teaching, research and writing, Lessig has represented clients in high-profile cases involving the Internet.

“His work has a very interdisciplinary, eclectic reach,” said Dr. Victoria Ekstrand, a professor of journalism and one of the organizers of his visit to BGSU.

The ethics center position marks a return to Harvard for Lessig, who was previously a faculty member in its law school before going on to teach at the Stanford University and University of Chicago law schools. In addition to his academic work, he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2006, and wrote a monthly column for Wired magazine.

Lessig’s BGSU visit is sponsored by Tech Trends in the Office of the CIO, the Department of Journalism and Public Relations, the School of Media and Communication, the College of Technology, the American Culture Studies Program, BG Experience, the Department of Telecommunications and the Department of English.

To learn more about Lessig, visit
http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2008/12/12_lessig.html.

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(Posted November 19, 2009 )