Parodies on films and other pop culture

kklekc718 2015-05-20 00:56:27 UTC #1

So, if I want to make a parody of a film series, such as the Avengers for an example, would that be okay? To avoid legal issues, can I still make it a parody, but not monetize?

How does that work?

I have a fun silly idea in my head to make a "Avengers summary."

abbastudios 2015-05-20 00:58:34 UTC #2

Parody is protected by law.

kklekc718 2015-05-20 01:00:09 UTC #3

So, I can make as much as I want.

And if I get popular with it, I can monetize it?

casts_a_shadow 2015-05-20 01:05:32 UTC #4

To a certain degree you could. There are official laws in place (I recommend looking those up).

Look at MAD magazine as a longtime example of parodies in print. Alter some names, don't use major symbols (for example tBATMAN's crest is owned by Warner Bros.), if you can avoid it. But so long as you are making the drawings your selling and not copying anyone else's directly, you have a lot of freedom to parody pop culture.

kklekc718 2015-05-20 01:07:52 UTC #5

Cool, thanks! I'll post it after I get it finalize!

scythe 2015-05-20 02:15:03 UTC #6

To be really safe you should be making some kind of social statement or commentary for it to fall under fair use, and even then, if the owner of the IP slaps you with a C&D, the up front court costs would still fall on you to defend your rights.

Having said that, you'd have to be ridiculously popular from them to notice you most of the time, so as long as it is a parody, and not just fan fic, you're not breaking any laws.

UltHamBro 2015-05-20 21:32:24 UTC #7

Would there be a problem with fan fics? I've never done any, but I have an idea for a short (16 pages long) comic based in an existing franchise. Could it be uploaded here? (I'm not planning on monetizing it)

scythe 2015-05-20 22:15:37 UTC #8

I honestly don't know Tapastic's policy on fan fiction, I'm sure it'd be in the T&Cs. Even if you don't monetise it, it would still be hosted on a site that's making Tapastic money, so there could be a potential issue there that they might want to avoid. But yeah, that's just my guess. At the very least, definitely stay away from any logos or insignias. If you're really worried, you could post a question in the forum about this. Or maybe there's already one with an answer.

As for whether or not the owners of the IP would have a problem. That's very much up to them. Just the other day I saw the Simpsons endorsed something a couple of guys did on Youtube by incorporating it into their own show. On the other hand, Disney and Lucasfilm are notoriously litigious when it comes to their characters. But again, you'd have to be extraordinarily popular for them to even notice or care what you're doing.