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Public Knowledge Presents Third IP3 Awards to Benkler, Krikorians and Litman

Public Knowledge President Gigi B. Sohn announced that PK’s 2006 IP3 awards will be presented to Yale University Law Professor Yochai Benkler, technology entrepreneurs Blake and Jason Krikorian and to University of Michigan Law Professor Jessica Litman.

Awards are given to individuals who over the past year (or over the course of their careers) who have advanced the public interest in one of the three areas of “IP” - Intellectual Property, Information Policy and the Internet Protocol. The awards will be presented Oct. 19 in Washington, D.C.

Yochai Benkler, a professor of law at Yale Law School, is the winner for his work on Information Policy. His most recent book, “The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom,” which was also published as a Wiki on his web site, examines how decentralized production of information has brought revolutionary changes to the economy. Benkler is known as a prolific writer and commentator on the nature of the information commons.

Blake and Jason Krikorian are the winners in the Internet Protocol category. Their company, Sling Media, has revolutionized the television industry through the Slingbox device, which allows consumers with a broadband connection to watch home-town TV from anywhere in the world. More than their technical achievements, however, the Krikorians have shown a willingness, unique among new companies, to engage in the technology policy world.

Jessica Litman, law professor at the University of Michigan, is winner in the Intellectual Property category. She is one of the country’s foremost scholars on the topic of copyright. Her most recent book is “Digital Copyright.” She is a forceful advocate for protecting consumer rights to personal use of media and for drawing limits on the policies of media companies that encroach on those rights.

Judges for this year include former IP3 award winners Rep. Rick Boucher and Gary Shapiro. Also on the panel are Mark Lloyd, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress; Rob Frieden, professor of telecommunications at Penn State University; Jenny Toomey, musician and executive director of the Future of Music Coalition, and June Cross, documentary filmmaker and assistant professor at Columbia University.