Legal Question in Entertainment Law in Virginia
Parodies
Good afternoon,
First of all, thanks for offering this site/service.
I want to get into the comedy profession. I have enough material outlined for a cd and will start recording the skits soon. I plan to upload them to Napster, Aimster, whatever.
Some of the parodied subject matter is copyrighted. Say, ''Star Trek'' for example. I would call it something else, and rename the characters. Same with ''Beatles'' Is this safe? I am not using any original music from there either. I would parody only situations and characters, but change the names.
Thanks,
anonymouse
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Parodies
Parodies are normally fair use provided no more is taken from the original than is reasonably necessary for the parody and provided the entire original is not taken. If the parody is for commercial purposes, the permissible amount to take is less than if the parody is non-commercial. The issue is fact dependent and is decided on a case-by-case basis, so more specific advice on your situation requires analysis of your specific facts.
Re: Parodies
Echoing Bruce Burdick's comment, I would only emphasize that you need to do a genuine parody rather than a derivative work in order to qualify for the parody safe harbor. Changing the names is not necessary, and may undercut the claim of parody. The idea would be to have Capt. Kirk in a Tammy Baker make-up drag queen outfit, or some such, that pokes fun at the original series.
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