During the Symposium, Adrian gave the example of Disney’s song “Let it go”, made famous by the movie Frozen, as a relaxed approach to copyright law, one in particular that benefits the right holder due to enormous amounts of positive exposure.

With a large international fan base, the song has generated over 60,000 covers from young artists wanting to give it ago, to Disney mash ups and African Tribal covers.

Image courtesy of Disney

It would seem this sort of copyright infringement is almost welcome as the movie Frozen, the song ‘Let It Go’ and the brand Disney receives an enormous amount of free publicity.

The brand also develops a positive name/product association and good reputation for allowing its fans to indulge in the fun of sharing the song.

Despite the all rights reserved copyright Disney holds, the song is being shared, edited and remixed unchallenged. The brand has certainly not granted a creative commons license but has let its fan-base run wild with the idea.

Scary thought should Disney decide to sue all these fans! they would be able to persecute people all over the world including any sights that promote or share the material.

Does this sort of “fan-sharing” or “fan-imitation” make copyright breach okay? and where does that leave die hard cosplay fans and kids dress ups? provided not everyone can afford or chooses to pay for costumes… are our home made look-a-likes fine? similar to pitch changing in songs to avoid copyright?

 

Examples from Google Images

Paying homage as a defence to copyright? what do you think?