Chook Me!

how do shows like robot chicken and family guy get away with using copyrighted characters?

do they ever get sued? or is there a technicality or guidelines based on which you can get away with using the characters. i want to do a similar comedy video but am afraid my effort would go to waste if i receive any notice. any thoughts anyone?

Public Comments

1. poor and cheap copies.
2. They're probably protected under the Fair Use Act, which allows them to use copyrighted characters as long as they're not specifically used for profit. If the characters are just a really close mock-up of existing copyrighted characters, that constitutes a parody, which is perfectly legal.
3. Sometimes they pay royalties. Sometimes they just ask for permission from whoever holds the copyright, and are given permissions. Those shows are comedies, and can usually include things based on copyrighted material if it's in a way that lampoons the material. Parody is usually considered a "fair use" of copyrighted material. One way to play it safe is to parody the theme but modify the specifics. Check out the episode of 2 Stupid Dogs, "Family Values." It's on youtube. It's a parody of both the Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family, but it doesn't use anything specific from either. It just takes elements from them and mocks them. It has 8 people, mother, father, 3 girls, 3 boys, and the oldest boy and oldest girl are hot for each other just like on Brady Bunch. Every time something happens the dad goes "what did you learn from that" and the kid says something ridiculous. And in the middle, they stop and sing a song with cheesy psychedelic background, just like the Partridges. So everyone who sees it knows it's a mock-up of those shows, without using any titles or character names. Also one of the better episodes of one of the funniest cartoons ever made, and the only good one made by Hanna Barbera. (cept maybe scooby doo, which had a few diamonds in the rough)
4. I was going to give you a long winded political answer, but Wikipedia can do it in about five times fewer words.
5. Satire is fair use.
6. Because its a parody