On The Test Of Fair Use For Parody Works

Fair use has been defined as a privilege in others than the owner of the copyright to use the copyrighted material in a reasonable manner without his consent, notwithstanding the monopoly granted to the owner of the copyright.To assist courts in determining which uses of copyrighted material are fair use, the Copyright Act of American specifies four factors to be analyzed:(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.Under this four-factor test, parodies are among those works that may qualify for fair use protectionParody has been defined as "the use of some elements of a prior author's composition to create a new one that, at least in part, comments on that author's work. Parody is used to comment on original works by quoting or imitating the original works. Generally, the style of parody works will be ironic or critical. Although, parody works might lead to negative affect on the original, it is not intended to affect the potential market of original in copyright law. Parody works is considered fair use, as long as it appropriately quotes or imitates the original in terms of amount and sustainability with the intention of criticism and comment. In 2005, Hu Ge produced a film, called A Plot Triggered by a Steamed Bread, which aroused an argument of fair use in terms of copyright. The writer considered that we are able to deal the problem with the theory talked above.Although parody works is widely seen in China, it is not clearly defined in laws in China. There is no exact and established explanation about fair use of parody works. Therefore, the writer think parody works should be defined in copyright law.The essay consists of 5 chapters: Chapter 1 is about fair use, including of how to form and develop, the whole theory of fair use; Chapter 2 is about the definition and character of"parody works"; Chapter 3 is about fair use of parody works; Chapter 4 is about copyright misuses aroused from A Plot Triggered by a Steamed Bread; Chapter 5 is about inspiration from the argument caused by the film.