Any lawyers in the cafe?

LaserFreak

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I've got a question about copyrighting. I might need an entertainment lawyer to answer but we'll try this first.

I've got a few parody songs that I've written. How does copyrighting my work differ from copyrighting original work, considering that producing and selling the work involves vaguely copying the original artist's work, if it does at all?

Thanks for the help!
 

Sigman

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Hopefully someone will chime in with the info you need, but meanwhile you could browse through Weird Al's website. He's got an "Ask Al" forum (with archives as well) where I snagged this tidbit:

Howard & Cindy Wilson of Hamilton, Ontario asks: On the back page of the CD insert, you mention Nickelback in the credits. Can we ask what inspiration they provided you with?...

Nickelback was nice enough to give their permission for me to use their song "Photograph" in the latest polka medley. I typically get clearances for the songs in the medley before I actually arrange it... and when I was putting "Polkarama!" together, I just couldn't find a way to incorporate the Nickelback song into it where it didn't sound wedged in or tacked on - so unfortunately I had to leave it off. You may notice that I also mentioned T Pain in the "special thanks" - similarly, he had given his blessing for me to do a parody of one of his songs. At the last minute, I decided against recording the song for the album, but if you come to one of my live shows this summer, you may hear a snippet of it somewhere in the medley...

Looks like getting permission prevents friction as far as doing a copyrighted song, but then perhaps your arrangement would warrant a copyright?

Sorry I don't have a "real" answer for you...
 

katsyonak

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Asking Weird Al Yankovic was exactly what I was going to suggest to you, so that's +1 I guess.
 

LaserFreak

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Thanks for your help, guys. I actually posted this on a legal forum, Free Advice Forums. Here's the response:

Your work differs in that you can be sued for copyright infringement, whereas with an original work you can't.

Although parodies often fall under the "fair use" provision of the Copyright Act, whether a use is fair or not is ultimately determined by a court. Courts look at the purpose and character of the use (whether it is for a commercial purpose or a non-profit purpose or an educational purpose, for instance), and courts look at the nature of the work, and the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole, and they look at the effect on the market for the copyrighted work and how it may affect the value of the copyrighted work, and they can also make a subjective judgment and base their decision on whether they like the parody or not. When more than a few lines of a song lyric are parodied, it is often judged not a fair use of the copyrighted material.

People who parody songs on a regular basis, like Weird Al, will usually get permission from the copyright owner prior to releasing their parody. Lawsuits often occur when the copyright owner hears the parody for the first time and doesn't like it, or starts to lose money because of it.


So it seems the best way is to ask the copyright holder. Now how to find that out...the label?

Just thought I would post the response I got so that if anyone else had a similar question, they could refrence this.
 

scott.cr

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You should check with the Writer's Guild of America (I'm registered there). Regardless of your politics on the subject of labor unions, they have excellent resources for writers. http://www.wga.org/

You can register your work directly with them for $20 (non-WGA member price; $10 for members) HERE. The purpose of registration is to create a legal record indicating you as the owner of the work.
 
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LaserFreak

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You should check with the Writer's Guild of America (I'm registered there). Regardless of your politics on the subject of labor unions, they have excellent resources for writers. http://www.wga.org/

You can register your work directly with them for $20 (non-WGA member price; $10 for members) HERE. The purpose of registration is to create a legal record indicating you as the owner of the work.


Thanks! Very helpful. Alot cheaper than going the copyright route. Might just do that for a few of my originals.
 
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