"Parody" - a uniform concept throughout the EU
Although European countries certainly do not share a uniform sense of humour, the European Court of Justice ("CJEU") has found a way to unify the elements that should characterize a parody in all EU countries from a copyright-law perspective, as well as the conditions that may be considered when assessing a parody's lawfulness. In its decision of 3 September 2014 in a case between a Belgian politician and the copyright owners of the Suske & Wiske (or Spike & Suzy, Bob & Bobette, etc.) comic book series, the CJEU held that the term "parody" is an autonomous EU-law term and explained what a lawful parody should generally entail.
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