Limits or satire/parody?

[lovecraft68]

Not sure about this so I figured I'd bring it here and see if anyone has any knowledge of it. I know parody and satires can be done on pretty much anything and its legal.

For purposes of erotica I'll use the example of DC characters. Warner Brother's owns DC and are notoriously litigious, yet there are many XXX parodies featuring their characters all over porn sites so they obviously can't stop it.

I do know Lit will not allow any non consent scenarios involving them and I never see the movies go that route so maybe there's a line there, but in general it seems they're up for grabs.

What I have been considering, but unsure if its okay is I want to do a erotic satire on the Purge series. For those unfamiliar, the Purge is set in the future where there is no crime because one day a year all manner of violent crime is allowed and you're left to your own devices to survive that day.

My version would be Purge: Family Style set in a fictional town where one night a year family members can freely have sex (over 18 of course) with the rule that the family member being asked for sex cannot say no or its seen as breaking the law so there could be some reluctance themes, but no outright non consent, just some "but this isn't right" etc...

Does anyone see an issue with this?

I'm going to mention to-as it matters-that I would not post this on amazon, a because that content doesn't fly there, but also anyone searching the purge movies could come across it and there would be complaints so I'm leacing this for smashwords and other venues I publish on.

Thoughts?

 

[rescatooor]

Change of format, and it's comedic. Definitely fair use.

You're probably not going to be using any of the existing characters anyway. For franchise reasons you may need to call it something other than purge (e.g. sexy purge).

 

[lovecraft68]

Change of format, and it's comedic. Definitely fair use.

You're probably not going to be using any of the existing characters anyway. For franchise reasons you may need to call it something other than purge (e.g. sexy purge).

Correct, none of the characters and a fictional town that's in the present, and some BS story I'll concoct for why this is a tradition...a little be careful how you treat your family during the year because its the difference between some playful fun or handcuffs and a hardcore spanking

Good point on the title. I figured Purge;Family Style would be enough, maybe not.

Family Purge might switch it up enough I haven't started it yet, wanted to see if it was worth doing

A totally unrelated title would make my question moot because I'd be burying it completely, but I wanted to try and do it as erotic parody

 

[lovecraft68]

I would be concerned that the people behind The Purge would come at you. They are actively building the IP, and probably wouldn’t be very happy about this. Would they have a leg to stand on? Maybe, maybe not. But that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t cost you to find out.
But, of course, if they issue a cease and desist, you can just obey.

As I am not a lawyer, I can’t give meaningful advice and deeper, but I would definitely want to be prepared for at least that.

Usually they contact the venue selling it and they ask them to pull it and in turn they do and let you know why.

Recently an anthology I was part of that was published 5 years ago called "Got Milf" was removed from amazon because allegedly the lawyer who represents the dairy industry claimed it violated their trademark slogan "Got Milk" which obviously was the parody inspiration.

I wanted to resist it, and at least as the question why doesn't this fall under satire, but the other authors and publisher got nervous and removed it. They didn't even ask for proof this person was actually a damned lawyer.

The retitled it, republished it and we ended up getting a few new sales on an old dormant title so at least we got something.

I want to now market myself as "Banned by the Dairy Council..."

 

[oggbashan]

I have done parodies - Swift's Gulliver, and in some poems by me and also as jeanne-d-artois.

But I would be very wary of doing it for a current franchise. laurel is likely to reject it, particularly if the characters are underage, but also because it could lead to lawsuits.

PS: Parodies, including sexual parodies, do exist but not here. Search for any 'erotic' Disney princess and you will find them doing everything...

 

[lovecraft68]

I have done parodies - Swift's Gulliver, and in some poems by me and also as jeanne-d-artois.

But I would be very wary of doing it for a current franchise. laurel is likely to reject it, particularly if the characters are underage, but also because it could lead to lawsuits.

PS: Parodies, including sexual parodies, do exist but not here. Search for any 'erotic' Disney princess and you will find them doing everything...

Oh, to be clear, its not for here. It would be for sale, but also not on amazon because the content itself isn't allowed there.

Also to be clear there is no underage, its not allowed on the paid platforms and I wouldn't do it anyway. Not my thing.

 

[PennameWombat]

Usually they contact the venue selling it and they ask them to pull it and in turn they do and let you know why.

Recently an anthology I was part of that was published 5 years ago called "Got Milf" was removed from amazon because allegedly the lawyer who represents the dairy industry claimed it violated their trademark slogan "Got Milk" which obviously was the parody inspiration.

I wanted to resist it, and at least as the question why doesn't this fall under satire, but the other authors and publisher got nervous and removed it. They didn't even ask for proof this person was actually a damned lawyer.

The retitled it, republished it and we ended up getting a few new sales on an old dormant title so at least we got something.

I want to now market myself as "Banned by the Dairy Council..."

Trademark law differs from copyright law. There are different factors considered for infringement. You can win on parody of a trademark, but it’d come down to the jury. If you could’ve gotten the right jury, you might’ve eventually prevailed in the case.

But that’s always the case for satire and parody, actually. You claim it, I sue you, the judge and/or jury decide. And sometimes the US Supreme Court decides after a few million dollars have been spent. That would’ve told you whether the dude was a lawyer, but it sounds like the usual first step to get to such a case, file a cease and desist.

And, IANAL and IMHO, your ‘Purge’ idea wouldn’t even be an issue if you didn’t want to use the word ‘Purge’, only because I wonder if it’s trademarked. You can’t copyright titles or single words. There’s already an entire genre of ‘free use’ porn using the general idea of men or women having to give themselves freely no matter where they are or what they’re doing. Your one day a year is a twist.

And associating the ‘Purge’ with it might make it less of a clear parody than your ‘Got Milf’, since that one most readers likely wouldn’t think was coming from the dairy council, but ‘Purge: Family Style’ might be claimed to be less clearly disassociated from the owners of Purge IP.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'm familiar with infringement and Fair Use principles and I see no legal problem with it if:

1. You're just taking the basic concept and turning it into sex, and you're not borrowing plot details, character names or personalities or anything else.

2. You call it something sufficiently different, like The Urge.

How Laurel deals with it I don't know, but I don't see why you would have any problem if you followed 1 and 2.

You can't copyright an idea. Nobody owns a creative idea. And what you described does not resemble The Purge except at the level of the basic idea.

 

[lovecraft68]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I was aware that the idea itself was fine, if an idea could be copyrighted we wouldn't have endless rip offs of popular books, movies etc...

My question was the title, and as I looked at the replies that was the sticking point. Dawned on me Porn Parodies-examples Married with Hormones, Star Whores, Pumping Irene-were all porn parodies but they changed one of the words, which is enough,

Being The Purge is a simple title followed by a sub title "Purge: Election Day" there's nothing much to change so I'll have to just make something up, but people who have seen those movies would still pick up on what I'm having an erotic spin on.