Still, no matter how scathing it might be, parody is legal -- specifically protected by a "fair use" provision in trademark and copyright law -- so long as it meets certain tests.
For parody to be legal, there has to be a meaningful connection between the subject of the parody and the ultimate message. In other words, you can't take, say, the Microsoft logo and use it to make a parody about evil corporations destroying the ozone layer. Also, the parody has to be sufficiently distinct from the original to be recognizable as a parody.
- taked from the <a href="http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,39086,00.html">Wired.com story</a>.
I was depicting the relationship with BearShare to BearShit (as it sucks) and BearShit as "BearShare". Then with the whole phrase Anti-BearShit.
They didn't even go to court to decide if it was copyright infringement or not. |