Like old TV shows, the issue of porn parodies and their legality just seems to get retread over and over again. This time, it’s the producers of the mainstream Three Stooges movie trying to block the release of Not the Three Stooges XXX.
According to Xbiz (link is safe for work), the mainstream producers at C3 Entertainment have sent a cease-and-desist letter to Will Ryder, the producer and director of the adult film, which is scheduled for release later this month. C3 says the XXX film is unfairly capitalizing off the Three Stooges brand, while Ryder says his work is protected as parody under the First Amendment.
Parodies have been a time-honoured tradition of the adult entertainment industry for decades and this legal back and forth has been going on for just as long. Back in January, I asked Jessica Pena-Sackett, a lawyer for adult firm Pink Visual, about it and she explained that the reason this keeps happening is because there’s no firm set of rules to govern parody:
To date, there has not been a bright line rule with regards to parodies in the adult context. A bright line rule would be difficult to establish since every case/parody is different. On the one hand, the argument could be made that due to the nature of our content, a parody could tarnish the name of a rights holder. However, on the other hand, the argument could be made that parodies in the adult context would qualify for a fair use defense, as with other parodies.
That said, perhaps the biggest question in all of this is: Why would anyone want to see a porno based on the Three Stooges?!?
russellmcormond
April 18, 2012 at 12:15 pm
Three Stooges brand? Isn’t this long-ago in the public domain?
I have no problems with porn parodies, or porn in general.
To me the biggest question isn’t why anyone would want to see a porno based on a specific theme - we’re all different after all
The biggest question to me is why we are allowing such excessively long terms of government granted monopolies — especially over themes, character names, and so-forth — that are part of our common culture and should be able to be built upon by everyone (including those in the porn industry some might object to).