The EU is set to allow chances to the European Copyright Directive where Member States may bring in an exception to copyright that allows works to be used without consent for the purposes of caricature, parody or pastiche. The first to follow the directive is the UK, but it seems that the EUs highest court, the Court of Justice of the European Union, has added a new limitation to the parody exception.

According to the court a parody need not display an original character of its own, other than that of displaying noticeable differences with respect to the original work parodied. However it said that the application of the exception for parody, established by the directive, must strike a fair balance between, on the one hand, the interests and rights of authors and other rightsholders and, on the other, the freedom of expression of the person who wishes to rely on that exception.

If a parody conveys a discriminatory message, the holders of the rights to the work parodied have, in principle, a legitimate interest in ensuring that their work is not associated with such a message. So it is OK to parody an Intel press release, but it is not ok if your gag involves discriminating against minorities. Intel’s press office could be on the blower and demand that their name be removed from the parody.

However, there is a slight problem here in that parody often pushes boundaries and use images that upset people. What the worry is that the new ruling will encourage more legal action to be taken against works of parody on the grounds that it is discriminatory.