Topic awaiting preservation: Legalities and all that guff (Page 1 of 1)

Tell me, fellow loonies, what is the limit of copyright law? Say I want to take a company logo and make a parody of it, stick it on a T-Shirt and sell it, how much of it do I have to alter in order for it to be legal? How do I go about protecting myself against law suits and things like that, or even accusations that I've 'stolen' something I'm parodying? How far, really, do I have to go?

Justice 4 Pat Richard

[This message has been edited by Skaarjj (edited 04-06-2004).]

Well I'm not sure in terms of logos, but from reading stuff regarding artwork the basic requirement is that the final result works as a 'standalone image' and any of the 'assets' of the original image aren't being used directly.

However there never seems to be any clear guidlines, like with most law things it is down to interpretation and what you feel you can reasonably argue should legal action ensue.

However ther are loads of parody posters and such that get sold in high profile places like 'Virgin Megastore' etc and so I would imagine that you are free within reason to do what you like.

Basic advice is that if your parody is directly 'bashing' the corporate image/identity of the company and you are high profile enough to attract their attention then expect to be sued.

You just have to weigh it up and take a risk.

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IANAL, but usually parodys and satires have way more leeway than 'regular' art.

A parody is usually seen a being culturally beneficial and as such is usually legal unless it is clearly a damaging or slanderous act, but then it's no longer a "parody" as such, it's an attack on the company's good name. Whilst many people do such things and never get bothered about it, there have been cases of people being hit pertty hard by big companies they couldn't afford to stand up against in a law court.

However, you should be careful about this and read up on it. Espically in Australia, where the copyright laws haven't progressed much since they were first passed 100 odd years ago.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed this will change when/if we can negotiate a free trade deal with the US, but as things currently stand, it's still illegal to make any copy/duplicate of any copyrighted music for any purpose, no exceptions. This includes me making MP3's of my CD's to put on my MP3 Player (even though MP3 players are legal here, somehow - really not sure how thay maganed that one actually). Not that I?m likely to get charged because of this, but it's still illegal by the AU copyright laws none the less.

But like I said, this is apparently going to change in the near/distant future and our laws will be normalised against the US copyright laws, at least that?s what I?ve been hearing.

here US. law there.



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

Most free nations allow use of Copyright material in satire (slightly different from parody I think).

YMMV.

This is a question for a lawyer not a bunch of selfimportant, opininated, geeks

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