Many of us have seen a parody of an ad or heard a parody of one of our favorite songs. I recently discovered a parody of Tik Tok by Ke$ha on youtube, which pokes fun at Ke$ha’s song as well as “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4npUdfEmbQ The parody has the same name as Ke$ha’s song, making its connection obvious. But, does changing the words to the song and slightly altering the music allow the parody to avoid copyright laws? And even if the parodies are technically legal, is there anything the artists can do if they are upset by the imitations of their work?
According to www.publaw.com/parody.html, there are four “fair use factors” that weigh whether or not a parody is legal. First, the parody can’t be used for profit. Second, it depends on the “nature of the copyrighted work”. So, if the original work is published or not, and whether or not the original work was meant to be informative. Third, the amount of material created vs. the amount of material used from the original work. And fourth, the financial effect the parody might have on the original work.
So, even though there are “rules” that define whether or not a parody is okay, there is definitely a gray area around them. Each parody is different and based on different original works, so how can we define where the realm of copyright infringement starts and ends? I think that the artist should be able to have more of a deciding role in whether or not the parody truly affects their work, but in reality, how much are these parodies really going to cause issues? I think that parodies should be fair game, just as long as it’s clear that they are simply that.
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