If a parody is used in a non-critical means, as in, the idea is being parodied, does it infringe copyright?
A club at my school found a t-shirt design online and they wanted to use it as the club shirt. I was a little hesitant and they said not to worry they would change it up a little. (The design is a word search type thing and they said they would mix up the letters.) I am still hesitant that that might be an infringement on copyright, but am not sure. Can anyone tell me what copyright law says about this?
I would think that if you are not using the whole of the design and are changing it, that you would be fine. Although it might be Misappropriation, which is where an audience can tell that there are major similarities. It also depends on if you plan on selling it. If that is the case I would be very careful. If not, and you are just using it for a club logo, I think you would be fine.
March 22nd, 2010 at 12:01 pm
I would think that if you are not using the whole of the design and are changing it, that you would be fine. Although it might be Misappropriation, which is where an audience can tell that there are major similarities. It also depends on if you plan on selling it. If that is the case I would be very careful. If not, and you are just using it for a club logo, I think you would be fine.
References :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_infringement#Examples