On the subject of copyright (on of the aspect of DRM, our topic this week) I present three videos to entertain you.

First up is a parody of the Wii Fit Commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iYBmAVuBns

Next I present a Parody of a Republican Party slogan:

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/ea0b05d406

Finally I offer a musical interlude featuring Diamond Dave and the Fab Four:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTxZs-pRZ_M

As far as I know none of these clips have run into any legal trouble.  At least they are still posted and if there had been any legal challenges to them I would think they wouldn’t be online anymore.  I think they are entertaining but two of them make me question if they are borderline copyright infringement.

First of all, the Wii commercial is clearly a parody and as such probably safe from action.

The Republican Slogan however is a little more questionable.  The Republican Part can’t really complain since it quite deftly parodies their slogan.  However can the GOP be sued by Effexor for using their trademark and can the makers of Effexor sue the producers of this video since they too are using Effexor’s Trademark, and not to spoof the drug company?

Finally The mash-up of the Beatles and David Lee Roth really interests me.  In this case it is not a parody of either artist, at least I can’t detect any.  And I would assume the producer of this video didn’t get permission from any of the concerned parties.  So what would be the creator’s protection from being sued for copyright infringement? Has the new piece substantially transformed the original clips so as to be safe?  I don’t think so.  This is entertaining and certainly required a lot of skill and vision to edit these two performances together, but the originals are still recognizable and not transformed at all.  Maybe enhanced, but I don’t think that would pass the test in a court of law.

Understand that I’m not suggesting these videos should be removed, I’m just trying to understand the extent of the law, or the protection from the law.

The truth is I don’t know well enough to say one way or the other, so I’m curious to hear what someone else thinks. Any comments.

Maury