Memes and copyright

  • Thread starter Thread starter Zynxensar
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Z

Zynxensar

Guest
Odd question, but do memes fall under “fair use”? Essentially, are making memes legal and does not violate the copyright law?
 
Memes are often used for parody and parody comes under the category of fair use. You can always be safe, however, by asking permission from whoever took the picture you are using.
 
I am actually thinking about this, I really don’t know. I have been looking at memes on Instagram but not liking them just in case they violate copyright law. If anyone could answer the question that would be great thanks.
 
Come to think of it, they probably do fall under parody! Hopefully I can continue looking at memes 😎
 
Suscipe’s answer may help. It makes sense, memes are technically parodies of original work, and parody falls under “fair use”. I think as long as the memes do not gain revenue or profit from the original artist’s work, it should be okay to view them. Though I could be wrong
 
Memes are fair use, and even if they weren’t I don’t think a law against them would be moral. With the existence of the idea of intellectual property you will have owners of copyright lying about their rights, so you can’t trust what the owners say in regards to the law. I mean a copyright owner may say a meme isn’t authorized and therefore illegal. But he would be lying. Misrepresentation of copyright is also a crime, but not surprisingly it never gets enforced.
 
They can still profit from their work. Weird Al has a whole career built on it, and it’s been upheld in court.
 
Dan123 said:
Weird Al has a whole career built on it, and it’s been upheld in court.
Click to expand...
Weird Al doesn’t have to go to court. He doesn’t rely on fair use, he always gets permission to use the songs he parodies.
 
Weird Al was turned down once or twice. So, in those cases where he couldn’t permission, he did nothing.
 
Fair enough, I was misremembering. His work is often cited as the type of material that falls under fair use and parody, even if in his specific case he seeks permission.
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
Weird Al doesn’t have to go to court. He doesn’t rely on fair use, he always gets permission to use the songs he parodies.
Click to expand...
It a good sign that you’ve arrived as a song-writer, when Weird Al parodies one of your numbers 😃 And there is good reason to give permission – Al may rewrite the lyrics, but the music is still the property of the original composer, and royalties accrue. Don McLean is certainly still making beaucoup bucks off his “American Pie”, but the release of Al’s “The Saga Begins” parody using that melody must have opened a fresh floodgate of $$$.

D
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top