Lawrence Lessig appeared on Comedy Central's Colbert Report last week to debate copyright law reform with Stephen Colbert's eponymous argumentative talk show host character. Mr. Lessig, who is something of a hero among progressive copyright enthusiasts, is promoting his new book Remix, in which he argues that our copyright is outdated and that Congress is wasting its time dealing with copyright while there are more important issues at hand. (It appears that it's pretty popular, so I'm going to order a couple more copies.)
My favorite exchange is when Colbert (again, meaning Colbert playing this character) becomes very upset with the prospect that somebody might remix his work:
Colbert: I will be very angry, and possibly litigious, if anyone out there takes this interview right here and remix[es] it with some great dance beat and it starts showing up in clubs across America.
Lessig: Actually, we're joint copyright owners. I'm OK with that. You can totally remix this. I'm fine with that.
Colbert: I do not give you permission.
There's a little more back and forth until Colbert exclaims "Copyright is eternal!" Watch the video below. (Hopefully Colbert is kidding about litigation because I'm posting this without permission.) Also note that Lessig has posted a few remixes of the interview on his blog.
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