Is it time to change our nation’s copyright law? In the third episode of Copy This, host Kirby Ferguson talks with Mark Lemley, Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and the Director of the Stanford Program in Law, Science and Technology, about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Despite all that has changed since passage of the 1998 law, which was intended to upgrade copyright law for the 21st century, Lemley argues the act has worked “amazingly well.”

Ferguson and Lemley help listeners navigate the complex – yet important – details of the DMCA, what safe harbors are, and the difference between ”notice and takedown and “notice and staydown” to understand why a careful balance must be struck to protect copyright owners and creators. With some new calls to change the safe harbor provision of the DMCA, Lemley recognizes the urge to tinker, but argues the best thing we can do is to “leave it be.”

For more by Lemley on preserving the DMCA, check out the LA Times op-ed he co-authored with New York University Law Professor Chris Sprigman. As always, thanks for listening, and stay tuned for Copy This Episode 4 later this month.

Copy This is available to listen on Soundcloud, iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Overcast and Pocket Casts.