Fluttering Carefully

Parody is covered under the American doctrine of Fair Use among works that makes use of copyrighted material. Among others, Parody, Non-Profit Educational, and Critical works all enjoy some measure of protection. It is not quite that simple, other considerations include harming an author’s ability to capitalize on their work, and due diligence in obtaining permission. For that reason Weird Al has been careful to gain permission when parodying works. Weird Al parodied the song by James Blunt called, “You’re Beautiful,” with a song of his own called, “You’re Pitiful.” Later Atlantic rescinded their permission, which was a frustration to him. So, he stopped selling the song, but he has continued to perform the song while on tour. What a bummer being [Atlantic].