12th March 2018
18.30 – 19.30
LT1 Appleton Tower
SCRIPT Centre Seminars
Is There a Right to Parody Under Copyright Law? - Dr Sabine Jacques,University of East Anglia
About the Seminar:
Copyright law grants exclusive rights to right-holders which prevent others from exploiting copyright-protected works without authorisation. However, this right is not absolute. Legislation includes specific exceptions which preclude right-holders from exercising their prerogatives in particular cases which foster creativity and cultural diversity within that society. The parody exception pertains to this ultimate objective by permitting users to reproduce copyright-protected materials for the purpose of parody.
While the parody exception is not harmonised at international level, the EU Information Society Directive offers EU Member States the option of including a parody exception within national copyright legislation as part of a harmonising framework. The UK took advantage of this option, and introduced a new copyright exception for parody in October 2014.
Where are we today? To understand the meaning and scope of the recent exception in UK copyright law and to analyse whether EU harmonisation of the parody exception is achievable, this presentation will compare four jurisdictions which differ in their protection of parodies: France, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. It will be concerned with finding an appropriate balance between the protection afforded to right-holders and the public interest in encouraging parody. This will be achieved by analysing the parody exception to the economic rights of right-holders, the application of moral rights and the interaction of the parody exception with contract law.
As parodies constitute an artistic expression protected under the right to freedom of expression, this presentation will tackle the influence of freedom of expression on the interpretation of this specific copyright exception.
Learning objectives and outcomes:
The learning outcomes and objectives are that by the end of the seminar delegates will have:
• A critical understanding of the tensions at play when applying the parody exception under copyright law;
• An understanding of how the parody exception in copyright law interacts with other legal areas;
• Awareness of the tensions within and between the different legal regimes when it comes to applying the parody exception.
This event is CPD Appropriate - certificates available on request following your attendance.