Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.

510 U.S. 569 (1994)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

In 1964, Roy Orbison and William Dees wrote 'Oh, Pretty Woman' and assigned their rights to P. P registered the song for copyright protection. 2 Live Crew (D) wrote a song entitled 'Pretty Woman,' and through comical lyrics intended to satirize the original work. D informed P of the parody and wanted to make a deal. They enclosed the lyrics and a copy of the new song. P refused to deal. D went ahead and released 'Pretty Woman.' The albums and compact discs identify the authors of 'Pretty Woman' as Orbison and Dees and its publisher as P. P sued D for copyright infringement. The District Court granted summary judgment for P, reasoning that the commercial purpose of P's song was no bar to fair use; that P's version was a parody, which 'quickly degenerates into a play on words, substituting predictable lyrics with shocking ones' to show 'how bland and banal the Orbison song' is; that P had taken no more than was necessary to 'conjure up' the original in order to parody it; and that it was 'extremely unlikely that P's song could adversely affect the market for the original.' presumptively . . . unfair.' The Court of Appeals faulted the District Court for 'refusing to indulge the presumption' that 'harm for purposes of the fair use analysis has been established by the presumption attaching to commercial uses.' The court then concluded that its 'blatantly commercial purpose . . . prevents this parody from being a fair use.' D appealed.