Parody is an imitation of someone else's work with a view to
ridicule or criticize such work. Since parody is an imitation, does
it amount to copyright infringement of the owner's original
work? How do laws protect the right of copyright owner along with
the parodists?
It is a general principle that no copyright lies in ideas,
subject-matter, themes, movie plots till the expression of the same
are different. If presentation of subject-matter or an idea is
similar to the original work, then it amounts to copyright
violation. In relation to 'Parodies', since it is derived
from the original work of another writer or artist, it is difficult
to draw a line between creative criticism and imitation. This issue
was cleared in Civic Chandran case1 wherein the Court
held that 'the purpose of reproduction of artistic work i.e.
counter drama was not misappropriation, to produce a play similar
to the original. Rather, the purpose was to criticise the idea
propagated by the
