August 08, 2011
The Government is consulting with industry experts to decide whether certain online spoofs of famous TV programmes, films or songs could be exempted from UK copyright legislation.
This latest internet craze has led to some recent high profile cases. One particular example was EMI’s action last year in response to a spoof made of the 2009 hit single ‘Empire State of Mind’ by US artists Jay-Z and Alicia Keys. The spoof which appeared on YouTube was titled ‘Newport State of Mind’ and featured the words ‘Newport’ in place of ‘New York’. The video was watched by over two million people before it was dropped by YouTube.
The Government’s decision to look into this issue is in response to a review of digital economy by Professor Ian Hargreaves of Cardiff University and pressure from Google who are keen to maximise the amount of material they can post online. Business Secretary Vince Cable has said “We are determined to explore how exceptions to copyright can benefit the UK economy”. Google would prefer a similar system to the one in the US where unlicensed material is looked at by judges on a case by case basis and the issue of ‘fair use’ is considered. A spokesman for Google said this week “We have long argued in favour of moderate copyright reform to foster innovation and jobs.”
It is certain any move to relax competition laws for such online material will meet strong opposition from film producers and record labels. One industry insider has said “Someone could take a song, change a few words but keep the main body of the work pretty much intact, then release it as their own and profit from that.”
