Stanford law professor and copyright champion Lawrence Lessig came for a lunchtime lecture here at Pixar. I’ve been interested in copyright law and intellectual property rights for quite some time, and Lessig’s thoughtful writing and championing of the Creative Commons has had a significant effect in helping me formulate what I think is a nuanced and reasonable understanding of the issues. Since I have followed much of his writings and his blog, I didn’t find a lot that was significantly new in his presentation. He did take the opportunity to offer a challenge to Pixar and our mouse-eared overlords to take a leadership role in trying to transition into a more sensible culture were “read-write” access to creative works are more sensibly understood.

It’s a pity that his entire time was spent talking about copyright though: I’m now more interested in his new windmill to tilt at.