KnowYourMeme: Futurama Fry/Not Sure If
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This meme, taken from the popular cartoon, Futurama, uses the grammatical "If Not X, Then Y" format to express skepticism about something.
WAYS OF DEFENDING:
THE FAIR USE OF MEMES
Memes are generally too new to be on the courts’ radars, but legal fair use doctrine applies to the function memes play in internet culture. The internet has historically been a breeding ground for fandoms, where fans of books, movies, video games, and other consumable media create content based on specific copyrighted works. Picture-based internet memes can arise from fandom discussions and spread beyond the scope of a singular fandom, using a small portion of the copyrighted work to convey its idea. The copyright holders may have some objection to the large-scale use of their work without permission, but fair use doctrine can protect such memes in court.
FACTOR ONE: CHARACTER AND PURPOSE
Internet memes fall under several of the accepted purposes under the first factor, including criticism and commentary through the vehicle of parody. The Internet Ugly Aesthetic revolves around satire and parody, ensuring that the memes created in the image of the aesthetic will be parodic in nature.
FACTOR TWO: NATURE OF THE COPYRIGHTED WORK
When dealing with memes derived from copyrighted works, the nature of the copyrighted work is a lesser factor, but still has some weight because “it influences how much society is willing to allow otherwise infringing uses of a copyrighted work” (Patel, 245). Creators pull memes from a variety of copyrighted sources, allowed and encouraged by society because of the humorous commentary the memes provide.
FACTOR THREE: SUBSTANTIALITY
Compares the portion taken from the copyrighted work with the work as a whole. Determining whether it is a fair use relies on both the size of the portion and, more importantly, “the substantive context of the excised portion of the copyrighted work” (Patel, 246). Because photo-based memes most often appear as stationary images, such as screencaps from movies or promotional posters, they cannot be considered substantial in comparison to an entire movie.
FACTOR FOUR: MARKET IMPACT
Requires that an infringing work should not “impact the marketability of the copyrighted work or derivatives of that work,” and perhaps even enhance the value of the original (Patel, 247). Memes derived from television shows often expose new viewers to the show, encouraging them to watch the show even though that might not have been the original purpose of the meme.
KnowYourMeme: Futurama Meme Commercial
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The Futurama marketing team created this commercial to connect with their audience, who created the original meme. Re-appropriating a meme works in this context because of the audience demographic.