Obviously its been done in universities for some time, but for example the link in question discusses a chair that was permanently endowed via property upon his death. A bit different than covering 2-3 years of a borderline lobbyist for your business interests. I did a quick check of some similar organizations, this is the only named chair in the EFF, and EPIC, FSF, and the center for democracy and technology all don't have any.

I'm sure I'm rather biased though, as I sincerely doubt I'd have said anything if it was the Lawrence Lessig chair.