Copyright Protection for Parody Works: A Focus on Photographs and Video Clips on Online Platforms

Abstract

Recent development in our society leading to in the digital age has resulted in many creative works on online platforms. One of the creative works that is quite popular among other works is “parody work”, especially parody works on photographs and video clips. This article aims to study copyright protection in parody works on photographs and video clips uploaded onto the online platform, with a particular focus on issues such as exception of copyright infringement, copyright ownership and copyright infringement. The study conducts a comparative analysis of legal principles and judicial decisions from Thailand and several foreign countries, namely the United States, Australia, Canada, and France, to explore how their legal frameworks could address these challenge to afford copyright protection to parody works especially those of photographs and video clips on online platforms.

The findings of this study and analysis that parodies can be transformative work but to be qualified as a copyrighted work, the work must not be created by reproduction or adaptation from another copyrighted work without permission. Consequently, parody works, being an adaptation of the original work by its nature, are not qualified as copyrighted works and satirical parodies often infringe on moral right. Both lighthearted and satirical parodies typically constitute copyright infringement under section 27 and section 28 and infringement are not exempt under section 32 paragraph 1 and paragraph 2 (3), as well as section 33 of the Copyright Act, B.E. 2537.

Nonetheless, parody works on the online platform which demonstrate originality, creative effort, and expression of idea should be entitled to protection independently the original work, to result in it does not copyright infringement in part of the content of the original work.

The author personally believes that the Copyright Act, B.E. 2537, lacks adequate provisions for addressing these issues and recommends legal reforms include exempting parody works from copyright infringement, add the definition of “creative work”, providing better protection for derivative and transformative works. This will create proper protection for parody works on online platforms, especially those of photographs and video clips, and will support the freedom of artistic expression of the creator in the digital era..