Knowing is half the battle.
(Don't sue me, Hasbro)
February 07, 2006
So, say you knew a really cool young webdesigner who fancied herself quite a quipper.
And one day she decided to sit down and design a few images she thought were pretty funny to be sold on a cloth material to other comedy conesuiers.
These jokes relied on popular culture, and as such, certain fonts and a few logos were used that could be easily traced back to certain movie-related corporations and one government military institution.
What this one nice webdesigner would like to know is if there are any nice copyright lawyers or other type of Smart Law-Type Person out there who could tell her something along the lines of either:
-"You're just fine! You fall under the Fair Use as Parody category, and you will make millions of children smile."
-"That's a little iffy, but if anyone had a problem, they would contact you, and all you would have to do is take your idea/product off the internet, and you'll be fine."
OR
-"You are guilty for even thinking of it, and the police are on their way to your house right now."
This is all completely hypothetical and I in no way have dreams of quitting my job and selling t-shirts to frat boys.
Advice is appreciated.
Posted by Kitsune at February 7, 2006 11:40 PM | digg this
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Parody
A parody is a work that ridicules another, usually well-known work, by imitating it in a comic way. Judges understand that by its nature, parody demands some taking from the original work being parodied. Unlike other forms of fair use, a fairly extensive use of the original work is permitted in a parody in order to "conjure up" the original.
From: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/9-a.html#2
Hope that helps.
Posted by:
Arekin
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I have a lawyer type friend that would probably be happy to offer up some advice to you. I have spoken to her in the past about posting copyrighted material on my website. If you would like, drop me a line, and I will hook you up with her e-mail address.
Posted by:
K80K
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I would be the friend mentioned in the above comment. :-) I'm happy to talk to you about it. It really depends on the how and what you've used. A good rule of thumb is that no one gets confused between you and the company. It's important to have some distance so there is no confusion, if that makes sense. Fair use is something that is left to interpretation. You can get in touch with me. If you'd like to get a bit deeper into the discussion, drop me an email!
Posted by:
Natalie
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Even with the Fair Use Doctrine, the one danger is that even in Parody usage, is that the other party involved has no sense of humor and has frothing lawyers of death on retainer (i.e. Tom Cruise). As was stated, as long as there can be no confusion between the hypothetical person and whatever is being parodied, and as long as a "reasonable" person could see that it was parody, it should be fine. Just always remember that there are some folks in the world with limited humor capacity and itchy lawsuit trigger fingers.
Posted by:
Shawn
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I'll buy 3...
Posted by:
KingHade
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Parody
A parody is a work that ridicules another, usually well-known work, by imitating it in a comic way. Judges understand that by its nature, parody demands some taking from the original work being parodied. Unlike other forms of fair use, a fairly extensive use of the original work is permitted in a parody in order to "conjure up" the original.
From: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/9-a.html#2
Hope that helps.
Posted by: Arekin- - - - - - - - - - - - -
I have a lawyer type friend that would probably be happy to offer up some advice to you. I have spoken to her in the past about posting copyrighted material on my website. If you would like, drop me a line, and I will hook you up with her e-mail address.
Posted by: K80K- - - - - - - - - - - - -
I would be the friend mentioned in the above comment. :-) I'm happy to talk to you about it. It really depends on the how and what you've used. A good rule of thumb is that no one gets confused between you and the company. It's important to have some distance so there is no confusion, if that makes sense. Fair use is something that is left to interpretation. You can get in touch with me. If you'd like to get a bit deeper into the discussion, drop me an email!
Posted by: Natalie- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Even with the Fair Use Doctrine, the one danger is that even in Parody usage, is that the other party involved has no sense of humor and has frothing lawyers of death on retainer (i.e. Tom Cruise). As was stated, as long as there can be no confusion between the hypothetical person and whatever is being parodied, and as long as a "reasonable" person could see that it was parody, it should be fine. Just always remember that there are some folks in the world with limited humor capacity and itchy lawsuit trigger fingers.
Posted by: Shawn- - - - - - - - - - - - -
I'll buy 3...
Posted by: KingHade- - - - - - - - - - - - -