by Mark Monlux, markmonlux.com
Dear Mark,
Do you have an opinion on the following? Using the title "LIFE at so and so" for an anniversary booklet about the history of a high school, sent only to school alumni, students, and some its local community members, mimicking the LIFE magazine cover - does this usage threaten any copyright legality?Signed,
Mindful Mimic
.
_________________________________________________________________
.
Dear
Mindful Mimic,
Your
question is one regarding
Parody as Fair Use. There
are some forms of copyright
infringement, where it has
become so social, politically
or culturally the norm, that
such use is deemed Fair Use.
Such as the use of the term
Xeroxing instead of using
the term photocopy.
What The Advertising Law Guide by Lee Wilson says regarding Parody:
"Parody of copyrighted works is not a permissible fair use unless the parody uses only so much of the parodied work as is necessary to "call to mind" the parodied work and is dangerous to attempt without very careful attention to the question of infringement. Anyone who muse use more than a small segment or feature of a copyrighted work to make a parody of that work effective should consider approaching the owner of the copyright in the work for permission to use whatever portion of the work is necessary.
What the copyright office says on its website:
The distinction between fair use and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission.
The 1961 Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General Revision of the U.S. Copyright Law cites examples of activities that courts have regarded as fair use:
-quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment;
-quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author's observations;
-use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied;
-summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report;
-reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy;
-reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson;
-reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports;
-incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported.
-Copyright protects the particular way an author has expressed himself;
-it does not extend to any ideas, systems, or factual information conveyed in the work.
The safest course is always to get permission from the copyright owner before using copyrighted material. The Copyright Office cannot give this permission.
To
summarize:
Parody
is Fair use. But, it walks right
on the edge of infringement.
If you have any doubts that your
parody is only a small aspect
of what is being parodied, they
you should put all concerns to
rest by contacting the retainer
of the copyright. Life Magazine
is owned by Time/Warner.
And while it is true that Fair Use allows for reproductions by students and teachers for educational purposes, it does not allow for the creation of educational materials themselves for teachers and students.
So, your question was: Does this usage threaten any copyright infringement? The answer is: Potentially, it all depends on your treatment.
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