![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Free Speech and Parody
Dec. 11th, 2008 11:45 amThis is patently ridiculous, but it's one of those It Mostly Only Happens In Canada things: the Copyright Act as currently written is silent on exceptions for purpose of parody or satire, as the American law does. Therefore Canwest is allowed to stomp all over this not-particularly-good joke, while the perpetrator's aren't even allowed to mention what it was they were trying to do with it, or why, or even that, gee, Canwest just happens to be the next best thing to an absolute media monopoly in this country.
Canwest Suit May Test Limits of Free Speech
Test: Where to strike the balance on parody? Defence appeals ruling that case is about copyright, not a citizen's right to skewer with satire.
By Tom Barrett
Published: December 11, 2008
TheTyee.ca
A lawsuit involving a newspaper that mocked Canwest's Middle East coverage may test the limits of free expression in Canada.
The defendants claim the case is about satire, parody and free-speech rights. Canwest Mediaworks Publications says free speech has nothing to do with it -- the four-page paper hurt its business and violated its copyright and trademarks.
The defendants' free-speech defence suffered a setback late last month, when Alan Donaldson, a master of the B.C. Supreme Court, ruled that "parody is not a defence to a copyright claim."
( Read more... )
Canwest Suit May Test Limits of Free Speech
Test: Where to strike the balance on parody? Defence appeals ruling that case is about copyright, not a citizen's right to skewer with satire.
By Tom Barrett
Published: December 11, 2008
TheTyee.ca
A lawsuit involving a newspaper that mocked Canwest's Middle East coverage may test the limits of free expression in Canada.
The defendants claim the case is about satire, parody and free-speech rights. Canwest Mediaworks Publications says free speech has nothing to do with it -- the four-page paper hurt its business and violated its copyright and trademarks.
The defendants' free-speech defence suffered a setback late last month, when Alan Donaldson, a master of the B.C. Supreme Court, ruled that "parody is not a defence to a copyright claim."
( Read more... )
