poemranker ::Replying

ReplyTo a comment on Unloyal Poon (Free Puss) by A Spanish Devil by <{Baba^Yaga}>.

ecargo3 Oct 2003

>>This is plagerism [sic] and I've already sent the entire url, copied pg etc in. Get a life! Even to make a parody you need consent.<<

No, you don't. <Putting on my pretty pedant hat,> Parody is a form of expression protected under the First Amendment here in the U.S.--it's considered fair use. The Supreme Court (aka the Felonious Five & colleagues) confirmed this in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music (92-1292), 510 U.S. 569 (1994), when (this is true) 2 Live Crew was sued by the music company that owned the rights to Roy Orbison's Pretty Woman, because 2 Live Crew did a parody of it in their own inimitable fashion. (I don't make this stuff up.) You can read the Court's Opinion here: http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/92-1292.ZO.html

Justice Kennedy (who wrote the concurring opinion) set out these relevant observations:

". . . certain general principles are now discernable to define the fair use exception for parody. . . . parody may qualify as fair use only if it draws upon the original composition to make humorous or ironic commentary about that same composition. . . . It is not enough that the parody use the original in a humorous fashion, however creative that humor may be. ***The parody must target the original***[my emphasis], and not just its general style, the genre of art to which it belongs, or society as a whole (although if it targets the original, it may target those features as well)."
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/92-1292.ZC.html

Just sayin'.