Lawrence Lessig, professor of Law at Stanford Law School and founder ofthe school's Center for Internet and Society, was awarded the prize for hisefforts to bridge the gap between outmoded copyright laws and new technology,and for his tireless yet peaceful questioning of the ownership of content.

The Monaco Media Prize, created to acknowledge innovative use of mediafor the betterment of humanity, was bestowed by HSH Prince Albert II ofMonaco, who stated, "Lawrence Lessig is a pioneer in the true sense of theterm -- a peacemaker who has bravely walked into one of the most hotlycontested battles of the Internet age: copyright and the whole question ofthe 'ownership' of content in a digital world."

Lessig is a writer and teacher of constitutional law, contracts, and thelaw of cyberspace, and is co-founder of Creative Commons whose mission is to"use private rights to create public goods." He is the author of five booksabout the progression of digital culture, including the most recent, "Remix:Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Digital Economy."

On accepting his award, Lessig said, "It is a surprise and an honor thatan award like this comes to a person like me from a group like the MonacoMedia Forum. It shows progress in understanding on both sides, and theopportunity for some solution to the questions of IP in a digital age."

The award was announced during a dinner at the third annual Monaco MediaForum, an invitation-only, non-profit conference where some 300 of theworld's key players in both new and "old" media - including CEOs of globalmedia groups, financiers, digital experts, entrepreneurs, senior journalists,academics and bloggers - have convened for three days to discuss and debatethe digital revolution and its impact on the new media landscape. MMF isco-produced by PublicisLive and Monaco Mediax.

The prize winner was chosen by a select group of Monaco Media Forumadvisors, led by HSH Prince Albert II.

For more information, go to http://www.monacomediaforum.org.

About The Monaco Media Forum

Chaired by HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, the Monaco Media Forum isco-chaired by Nikesh Arora, Jean-Bernard Levy, Maurice Levy, Ruigang Li,James Murdoch, Ben Silverman, and Niklas Zennstrom. This event is a unique,invitation-only platform spanning interlocking realms of media, finance andadvertising through local, regional and global perspectives, with particularemphasis on Europe and the Middle East. Featuring the most important names inmedia, communications and technology, the forum is an essential tool not onlyfor seeing the future, but building it. http://www.monacomediaforum.org

About Monaco Mediax

Monaco Mediax is a non-profit organization in charge of developing forthe Principality of Monaco world-renowned events in the media industry suchas the Monte-Carlo Television Festival, Imagina, SportelMonaco, SportelAsia,SportelAmerica, WIMA and now the Monaco Media Forum. The honorary presidentof the organization is HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco.http://www.monacomediax.com

About PublicisLive

PublicisLive is a Geneva-based agency behind the world's most prestigiousconferences and corporate events. PublicisLive is designed to meet theincreasing demand on the part of governments, institutions and corporationsfor sophisticated, content-rich live events. Key global clients include theWorld Economic Forum, which stages its famous annual meeting in Davos,Switzerland, the Monaco Media Forum and global clients such as L'Oreal, BTand Sanofi. PublicisLive is part of Publicis Groupe, one of the world'sleading communications and marketing groups.

SOURCE PublicisLive