Parody law needs an update

You may have heard that Constantin Film, maker of the 2004 WWII movie Downfall, has acted to pull parodies of its movie from YouTube.

Now, here's a move I truly don't understand. People are using a small portion of this movie, not the whole thing, for a bit of fun and a joke, while garnering huge exposure and publicity for the film (and the war), and they want to shut it down.

First of all, I don't agree with any sort of glorification of Hitler or the Nazi regime, but I do have a sense of humour and like many of you probably do, I find some of these clips funny.

As mentioned in the above article, even the director of the movie finds the clips funny. The lawyers, however, do not.

I can only guess that they are unhappy with the constant use of their studio's work on YouTube without being paid for it.

However, I would argue that people watching the Hitler parodies are no less likely to want to see the film; in fact, they would probably be more likely to seek it out after seeing the parodies.

You wouldn't walk into a dvd shop, see Downfall and think "No, I won't get that, I've already seen the parodies."

This also brings up the issue of the current provisions for parody or satire in the Copyright Act in New Zealand, or the lack thereof.

Parody laws in the USA allow this sort of thing under fair use and Australia has a specific provision which excludes parody and satire from copyright - not so in New Zealand.

Promises were made on April 1, 2008, by Judith Tizard (then the associate minister of commerce) to look into it and she delivered. The discussion kicked up some dust in September 2008.

But then the government changed, and we never heard any more about it. The other MP who championed the cause, Nandor Tanczos, has also now left the House.

The discussion has largely moved on to infringing file sharing and the elephant known as ACTA - a huge issue which is very serious - but surely this little loose end can be tied up relatively quickly and easily?

The current Minister for Commerce is Simon Power, with Rodney Hide the Associate Minister.

Parodies aren't doing any harm - they're probably good for the material which they parody. They generate interest and exposure and generally give people a good, harmless laugh, without affecting the profits of the copyright owner.

It's time New Zealand looked into this again.

And by the way, if you haven't seen Downfall, you should - it's a good watch, much better than the parodies, and especially relevant over the Anzac weekend. Lest we forget.

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GL   #1   10:32 am Apr 23 2010

Downfall parodies being removed was especially interesting because the producer of the film knew about the parodies and were for it.

H   #2   10:33 am Apr 23 2010

Welcome to outdated and impractical copyright laws. You should check out some of Lawrence Lessig's writing and lectures on what is effectively sampling a copyright work to create something completely new.

Mat   #3   10:38 am Apr 23 2010

Ive seen a couple of the above mentioned parodies and i really dont find them that funny... im not anti-hitler or war or and im certainly not pro and of that sort of carry on but from i humor perspective i just dont think they are that funny..

But thats just me

paul   #4   10:52 am Apr 23 2010

RockSugar are a parody rock band who do some great mashups of 80's hair metal and pop-rock bands. They get away with it under US parody laws. The results are entertaining; they are currently on tour around the USA and gaining alarge fan base through youtube and other social networking sites.

McFail   #5   12:09 pm Apr 23 2010

While I agree copyright laws do need to exist I don't understand the removal of the Downfall parodies. Some were funny most were lame but the main thing, I had never heard of this movie until I stumbled across a Downfall Parody of Hitler throwing a fit over his Xbox RROD.

After seeing the parody, having a chuckle I then went out and paid to rent this movie out and see it. I thought that parody was good but could see that the movie is was taking the piss out of looked like a serious "otherside" look at WW2 which I found interesting. Had it not been for the parody, I wouldn't have handed over my money to see that movie.

Obzen   #6   12:23 pm Apr 23 2010

South park

craig   #7   02:36 pm Apr 23 2010

I don’t think it’s a parody issue… I’m sure if people dressed up and recreated the scene the film makers would be fine with it. What they object to is people taking a part of their copywrited film and changing the meaning of it by changing the subtitles. Fair enough I reckon.

MikeM   #8   09:30 am Apr 26 2010

Best downfqall paordy IMHO is the motorbike one. Hitler's Honda has been writtne off in an accident and his generals have patriotically replaced it with a BMW.

"I am trying to build a reich that will last for 1000 years. I need a motorbike that will last, not some bavarian peice of sh..."

David   #9   07:45 pm May 09 2010

I'm with the author on this, Especially if the director is on board with it. If I had never seen a Hitler Parody on Youtube I would have never knew about or bought Downfall.

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