2 Live Crew Pretty Woman

Musician Tom Lehrer said “I have always found it interesting… that there are people who regard copyright infringement as a form of flattery.” (n.d.). Although flattery was probably not on the mind of 2 Live Crew when they released “Pretty Woman”, the group’s intent for the song was to be a parody of Roy Orbison and William Dees’s version of “Oh, Pretty Woman” (Deutsch, 1995). The facts and legal reasoning behind this case will be discussed to show how the court reached its decision. In addition, the fair use doctrine will be defined along with how it was applied in this scenario. Lastly, a discussion on Fair Use in regards to why it is important to protect intellectual property, why it is important for society to have access to intellectual property, and a balance between the two.
Facts
In 1964 Roy Orbison and William Dees collaborated to write “Oh, Pretty Woman”, and upon completion the rights to the song were signed over Acuff Rose Music Inc. (Deutsch, 1995). Acuff Rose then in turn registered the song for copyright protection (Deutsch, 1995). In 1989 one of the members of 2 Live Crew, a rap group, wrote a song called
Acuff Rose Music, Inc., 1994). The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the case, as it thought the commercial use of the song prevented its protection under parody (Campbell v. Acuff Rose Music, Inc., 1994). 2 Live Crew’s album did sell almost a quarter of million copies prior to the copyright infringement suit (Campbell v. Acuff Rose Music, Inc., 1994). The Supreme Court issued a writ of certiorari in this case. The Supreme Court evaluated all four elements of fair use and the use of copyrighted material used as parody. It made note that parody is allowed to use a portion of the original work without obtaining permission for the copyright owner (Deutsch,