Parody Is Fair Use, Satire Is Not

[Hazlenuts]

I'm working on a video right now and in the video there's a part where I just sing to my dog (who is named Carmen) "Carmen, carmen, carmen, carmen chameleon" which is a play on the song "Karma Chameleon" by Culture Club, my thoughts are that it's just the very short line and it's somewhat parody and there's no backing music that it shouldn't be an issue, but I still don't want to find out it is and lose a video I have put a fair bit of work into. What do you think?

 

[offbeatbryce]

I'm working on a video right now and in the video there's a part where I just sing to my dog (who is named Carmen) "Carmen, carmen, carmen, carmen chameleon" which is a play on the song "Karma Chameleon" by Culture Club, my thoughts are that it's just the very short line and it's somewhat parody and there's no backing music that it shouldn't be an issue, but I still don't want to find out it is and lose a video I have put a fair bit of work into. What do you think?

that's not a parody. that's derivative.

 

[Hazlenuts]

I ended up posting the video without the line, might have no been a big deal and gone unnoticed but didn't even want to have to think about it.

 

[Failproductions]

Courts rule in favor of parodies almost every time. Even if its borderline Satire. As long as your parody kinda sorta talks about the song or singer... its most likely okay.

Unless its vulgar, the courts seem to not like vulgar content. Even if it is a parody.

 

[offbeatbryce]

Courts rule in favor of parodies almost every time. Even if its borderline Satire. As long as your parody kinda sorta talks about the song or singer... its most likely okay.

Unless its vulgar, the courts seem to not like vulgar content. Even if it is a parody.

um no, copyright.gov has a whole list of court cases. Every single person claiming they made a parody was resulted in satire and they all lost

 

[Failproductions]

um no, copyright.gov has a whole list of court cases. Every single person claiming they made a parody was resulted in satire and they all lost

Could you link me to these cases directly?

In the past when I did my research, I read through the outcome of hundreds of cases. And as long as the song was even remotely commenting on or talking about the original song/singer in any way.. it was considered a parody and the parody won.

 

[offbeatbryce]

Could you link me to these cases directly?

In the past when I did my research, I read through the outcome of hundreds of cases. And as long as the song was even remotely commenting on or talking about the original song/singer in any way.. it was considered a parody and the parody won.

Right there. http://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/fair-index.html you can search the whole index of what was fair use and what wasn't. I may have seen like 3 that was fair use. But even ones that were commenting on something was ruled as not fair use or there was a mixed decision. Not sure what mixed means.[DOUBLEPOST=1471713908,1471713768][/DOUBLEPOST]

Could you link me to these cases directly?

In the past when I did my research, I read through the outcome of hundreds of cases. And as long as the song was even remotely commenting on or talking about the original song/singer in any way.. it was considered a parody and the parody won.

I take that back. I haven't been checking that link much but it seems more were found fair use of 2014. But still it's very confusing because even some that were commenting on something or review it wasn't fair use. Seems to be music parody's were found as not fair use but movie reviews are more fair use. Not sure why that would be.[DOUBLEPOST=1471714030][/DOUBLEPOST]

Could you link me to these cases directly?

In the past when I did my research, I read through the outcome of hundreds of cases. And as long as the song was even remotely commenting on or talking about the original song/singer in any way.. it was considered a parody and the parody won.

Here is a screenshot of some of the music ones not found as fair use. There is way more than what I screen shotted.

 

[BarbMollyTV]

Thank you for simplifying such a confusing concept. I was always concerned to do parodies but now I feel more comfortable with the idea now that I have a way better understanding of the rules behind it.


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[offbeatbryce]

Thank you for simplifying such a confusing concept. I was always concerned to do parodies but now I feel more comfortable with the idea now that I have a way better understanding of the rules behind it.


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I found this from an article about weird al and whether his songs are fair use if he didn't get permission. "Commenting on the original art itself is called parody. Copying art to comment on something else is called satire."

Weird al took "Happy" by Pharrell Williams and changed it to "Tacky"

Because Al is taking Pharrells song (his art) and commenting about tacky people that's a new art all together. Not fair use but satire. So weird al would not have fair use at all.

 

[Yoo_Toobah]

I feel that the way Copyright law is being used today is outside the spirit in which it was ever intended; and should be rewritten from the ground up.