Parody as a Problem of Freedom of Speech

神奈川県茅ヶ崎市While the very purpose of the copy right law is to promote the development of culture, a tension between copyright and Freedom of Speech has been often argued. In terms of this tension, parody is a most disputable area of expression. Parodies can be recognized as a kind of creative works, but it is often the case that they potentially infringe copyrights of others, as they necessarily utilizes copyrighted works of others. This article discusses leading cases in Japan that treat parody attempts, and clarifies the problems of Japanese case law. Specifically, it points out that parody has been treated as if plagiarism or counterfeites in Japanese case law, although parody is recognized as a form of comment or criticism on an existing work