INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW

Intellectual Property Law: Parody In Copyright Law



Intellectual Property Law: Parody In Copyright Law

Introduction

Parody has proven to be a difficult issue in copyright regulation, particularly in the United Kingdom in latest years. This is understandable because for a parody to be successful it is necessary to take a part of the source work, else the public will not understand it. When, although, this part types a considerable part of the source, the parodist infringes copyright. It is very simple to realise the difficulty: the parodist has to conjure up the source work, but he cannot take a considerable part.

Case regulation shows that courts, in the nonattendance of legislation in this area, appear to contradict on the appropriate treatment of parody. The aim of this dissertation is to display that parody desires special remedy in copyright law. I will start by explaining what parody is and why it is important. Then I will investigate case regulation on parody and copyright to display the expansion which have taken location, not only in the joined Kingdom, but furthermore in the joined States. The next step is to address if the United Kingdom's equitable considering provisions or the joined States' equitable use provisions competently address the problem. Iwill proceed on to talk about the freedom of sign difficulties which may originate in parody Cases. Iwill furthermore succinctly comment on the law in other European countries, because the European Directive on Copyright 2001/29 gives room for exceptional provisions and some nations made use of this. And in deduction I will give my outlook on what should be the remedy of parody in copyright law.

What is parody and why is it a problem?

Almost every work on parody moves back to the origins of the phrase in. The word 'parody' comes from parôidia (pa??d?a), deriving from 'para' and 'odê'. 'Para' means adjacent, beside or near. 'Odê' means song. The common transformation therefore is 'a recital vocalised beside another' and implies evaluation between the parody and its original. But as this transformation suggests neutral comparison, there are scientists who are of the opinion that 'para' also bears a more adversative, hard-hitting meaning of contradict and against. With this connotation parody arrives much nearer to satire or burlesque, because mock, distortion and mockery are absolutely vital ingredients.

The unsatisfying deduction is that numerous of the heritage scientists agree that there will not be a single definition of parody. However, it is likely to give some characteristics:

parody needs that the public knows the source work;

the source work may be art works in every form;

parody engages both closeness to and distance from its source material, because the source work is not uncritically dedicated but changed in - often - a witty way and it differs in this way from plagiarism;

parody is adept of simultaneously displaying condemnation and esteem, criticism and sympathy, parasitism and creativity;

in some situations, the source work is the goal, in other ones it is only a weapon;

often laughing out loud if provoked, because of the dislocation of the ...