4:21 p.m. | Updated
The producers of “South Park” are once again in trouble for using a Web video as source material for their comedy – this time, for parodying a viral video so closely that the video’s creators say the parody constitutes copyright infringement.
In a lawsuit filed Friday in United States District Court in Milwaukee, the production company Brownmark Films says a Web video it created in 2007, which has a vulgar title that begins “What What,” was satirized in a 2008 “South Park” episode called “Canada on Strike.” In that installment of the Comedy Central animated series, the suit says, the video is lampooned by the “South Park” character Butters “and his incorrigible cohorts.”
The suit adds that the “South Park” satire “is a nearly frame-by-frame recreation of the heart of the audiovisual work” that Brownmark created, and that the “South Park” producers, “without the permission or consent of Brownmark, and without authority, have prepared a derivative work.”
The lawsuit, which names South Park Studios and Comedy Central’s parent companies, including MTV Networks and Viacom, as defendants, was reported by the THR, Esq. blog of The Hollywood Reporter.
Comedy Central said on Monday in a statement: “Courts have consistently recognized that parody enjoys broad protections under the First Amendment and the Copyright Act.” The network added it believes the parody “is fully protected against any copyright infringement claims under the fair-use doctrine and the First Amendment and we plan to vigorously defend those rights.”
Last month the “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, apologized for using material in an episode taken from a Web video created for CollegeHumor.com. The authors of that video said they accepted the apology.
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