TechCrunch has a story where copyright law has gotten out of hand.
A guy does a parody video using a Billy Joel tune. When I first saw the headline I thought the musician has ordered the take down because the music is protected by copyright.
That wasn’t the case. Instead, the photographer that took this picture complained that she was not paid for her work and so the video must be taken down.
This is one of those gray areas where the use of the picture could very well be used within the rights of fair use. Fair use does not require the permission of the copyright owner, and parody is one of the permitted uses. In the case of this video, the creator of the photo wanted attribution for the photo and didn’t get it in the video. Her feelings were hurt. Unfortunately, they weren’t protected by copyright law.