M.Sri Nikila, L.L.M (Intellectual Property and Trade Law), CHRIST (Deemed to be University)
ABSTRACT
Memes have gained much popularity in recent years and there is no need to reiterate the fact that memes have become an inseparable part of the internet. One significant legal complexity surrounding internet memes is their interference with the rights of the copyright holders, wherein the memes are based on the original work of a different author other than the creator. The scope of this research is limited to those memes that are essentially in the nature of derivative works and does not extend to the memes that are the original works of the meme creators.. It is of paramount importance to deduct the underlying purpose for which the meme was created and once the purpose is identified, then it will be applied to the exceptions of copyright to understand whether it was a fair use of the copyright or the mere imitation of the copyrighted work to gain undue benefits. Not all internet memes can hide under the blanket of ‘fair dealing’ and escape from potential infringement claims. Fair dealing, obviously can be resorted to as a valid defence, provided if the memes are legitimately created with only ‘humour’ in mind. But many memes are created with an element of monetization which is hiding under the guise of recreation. The researcher intends to throw light on the grey area of meme creators monetizing their art whereby they don’t attain the benefit based on a single meme, rather through the meme collection they have created. Now the development in such a pace that, the mere recognition of memes will not efficiently protect the copyright interests of the owners, rather the recognition should be elaborated in such a way that it comprehensively addresses all the challenges that are put forth by the creation of memes and the subsequent popularity the meme creators achieve therein.
Keywords: Meme, Copyright, Fair-use, meme creators
