LEGISLATION AND REPORTS: Copyright and Parody: Taking Backward the Gowers Review?

In 2006 the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property made a series of recommendations for reforming the intellectual property regime to better serve the interests of both consumers and industry. Among the proposed recommendations was that an exception for parody be introduced within the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. In January 2008 the Intellectual Property Office (the IPO) launched the first part of a two‐stage consultation process on exceptions to copyright. As part of that consultation process, the IPO proposed a ‘fair dealing style exception’ for parody, and sought views on whether a new exception should be introduced as well as what form it might take. In December 2009 the IPO launched the second stage of this consultation process. The second consultation document rejected the case for a new parody exception. This article considers the place of parody within the copyright regime and the objections levelled against the introduction of an exception set out within the IPO's second consultation document. It invites the IPO to reconsider its decision not to recommend the introduction of a specific exception for parody within the UK.     

A lively and engaging series of essays

Intellectual Property Stories is the latest title in the ‘LawStories Series’ from Foundation Press (a Thomson/Westimprint), which sets out to explore the stories behind variousnoteworthy US Supreme Court decisions in different areas oflaw, including tax, torts, constitutional law, civil procedureand property. The series was launched in 2003 when ProfessorCaron P (the series editor) published Tax Stories, which workis complemented by an excellent companion website providinga complete record of each of the ten cases discussed in thebook, including lower court opinions, briefs of the partiesand amicus curiae, oral arguments (where available), and theSupreme Court's opinions (www.law.uc.edu/TaxStories). IntellectualProperty