Reposted from Sports. Media and Entertainment Online

By Alexis Fierens and Raf Schoefs  

Under Belgian law, a copyrighted work may be used without the authorisation of the author(s) for the purposes of caricature, parody or pastiche. In the absence of any clear guidance on the interpretation of the concept of parody and considering the economic value of many copyrighted works of which the integrity is carefully guarded by their rights holders, parodies have been the subject of many legal proceedings, leading to divergent decisions. For that reason, a clarification of the concept of ‘parody’ by the European Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) has been long awaited.