Inspiration or infringement: parody and the law

Abstract

Parodies live off the things they imitate. They also exist as literary works in their own right. They raise important legal and ethical issues for people in literary, publishing, and information work. There may be infringement, use in a misleading context, the exercise of fair use, plagiarism, and free speech. At best there may be theft of the text, at worst theft of authorship itself. The postmodern interest in pastiche removes the oppositionality of parody but paradoxically reveals how perennial a form it is and its consequences are.

Citation

Hannabuss, S. (2002), "Inspiration or infringement: parody and the law", Library Review, Vol. 51 No. 2, pp. 79-89. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530210418846