Parody of South Park Video is Fair Use

Mimicking a South Park episode with a "viral video" is a fair use parody of the show's episode, the US Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit rule on June 7, 2012.

Comedy Partners made a parody of a South Park episode that mimicked a “viral video” using the same angles, framing, dance moves, and visual elements—but replacing the artist with Butters, a naive nine-year old. In Brownmark Films LLC v. Comedy Partners, 7th Cir., No. 11-2620, the Court held that Comedy Partner's parody of the South Park parody was fair use of a copyrighted work.

“When the two works in this case are viewed side-by-side, the South Park episode is clearly a parody of the original WWITB video, providing commentary on the ridiculousness of the original video and the viral nature of certain YouTube videos[,]” Senior Judge Richard D. Cudahy wrote.

 

The South Park video was clearly a parody, and did not supplant the original. “As the South Park episode aptly points out, there is no ‘Internet money' for the video itself on YouTube, only advertising dollars that correlate with the number of views the video has had[,]” the court said.

Ironically, the effect of the South Park video, if any, would like increase ad revenue on the original, the court concluded.