Lawrence Lessig, Stanford University law professor
Position: 37 Last year: 19
Why? Reforming copyright law
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Lawrence Lessig is a longstanding Agenda Setter, famed for his pre-eminent thinking on cyber law. He is an outspoken advocate for free and open-source software, as well as a prolific author.
He set up Creative Commons licences, which offer a new way to deal with the granting of usage rights in creative works.
Lessig has continued to lead the global debate on intellectual property this year - earning the Stanford University professor of law a spot on this year's list.
The panel recognised Lessig as also being hugely influential in the UK, having shaped much of the activity surrounding the debate on intellectual property following on from the independent Gowers Review of Intellectual Property.
With digital media transforming the copyright debate, Lessig is the man revolutionising the copyright law for the new online era.
Take a walk down memory lane - and find out who made the agenda setters poll in years past
"Blogging's definitely got to the point where there're enough mainstream consumers watching it for the top bloggers to be regarded as agenda setters."
Michael Smith,
Agenda Setters panellist
"Open source gets more important rather than being something that will get squeezed out of the enterprise."
Simon Briskman,
Agenda Setters panellist
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Content featuring Lawrence Lessig
Digital media has transformed the copyright debate and Lawrence Lessig is the man paving the way for the new online era. More than just a good idea, the licences are inching their way into mainstream use - one reason the Agenda Setters panel...
The book Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, written during the commercial genesis of the internet by law professor Lawrence Lessig, argued that the ungoverned virtual world of the internet would find it impossible to avoid the introduction of an...
The brainchild of Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig, it was founded in 2001 by a small group of academics, lawyers and content creators. Get on with it - what's Creative Commons? It's a non-profit organisation focused on developing innovative...
Copyright reformer and silicon.com Agenda Setter Lawrence Lessig gave Flash developers an earful yesterday about how their platform of choice is perceived in the free software world. Flash is the enemy," said Lessig, a Stanford University professor...
Originally the brainchild of Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig in the US, the non-profit Creative Commons has developed a flexible alternative to traditional copyright law which allows the content creator to choose which protections or rights...
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