Friday, August 11, 2006

Copyright Issues

I am not all that clued up when it comes to copyright - but where does the law stand if I want to publish a song on my website that is a parody of another copyrighted song?

I am using no samples - just the basic chord structure - and the words have been changed.

Am I violating any laws?

Does anyone care?

How does bob rivers and twisted tunes get away with it?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I found this on the net:

Parody and satire often constitute fair use of copyrighted material. In cases involving parodies of copyrighted works, courts typically assess the purpose and intent involved in taking material from the original expression, and whether or not the author of the parody has borrowed a reasonable amount of material in producing the parody. For example, in the 1994 case of Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, 501 U.S. 569, 114 S. Ct. 1164, 127 L. Ed. 2d 500— which involved a parody by the rap group 2 Live Crew of the Roy Orbison song "Pretty Woman"—the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a parody can be fair use under copyright law even if it is created for commercial purposes.

Hope that answers your question.

Garry Walker said...

Thanks David.

That does seem to clarify the situation - especially in the US. Hopefully its not different in the UK.

G