Provocative cartoons of Miffy are legitimate parodies

A series of controversial Miffy cartoons that associate Dick Bruna’s famous bunny Miffy with sex, drugs and terrorism are not necessarily unlawful, according to the Court of Appeal of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The use of Miffy’s image in controversial pictures and texts is within the bounds of reasonableness and in line with generally acceptable standards.

The central focus of this case is the scope of the parody exception in Dutch copyright law. The cartoonist, Dick Bruna, stated that the parodies of his world famous Miffy cartoon were copyright- and trademark infringing. In total, there were seven cartoons posted on a blog platform called Punt.nl, which included provocative pictures and texts such as Miffy flying into the Twin Towers. Miffy is called Nijntje in Dutch and the parody was called Nijn-Eleven.

Previously, the District Court of Amsterdam ruled that the use of five out of seven images fall within the scope of the parody exception (article 18b Dutch Copyright Act) and are not unlawful. The judges took into account that the parody was made with a humorous intent, a lack of competition purposes and had no of likelihood of confusion with real Miffy images.  However, two out of the seven images were considered an infringement of trademarks. These images were not permitted as trademark parodies and, without any valid reason, undermined the reputation of the Miffy trademarks.

This week, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal overthrew the decision of the District Court and ruled that the use of all seven images is legitimate. All images are - in short - considered a parody. To be considered a parody, it is not necessary that everybody laughs about it. The intention of a parody is that the images in conjunction with the texts arouse laughter, even though not everyone might find the pictures funny or appropriate.

The Court of Appeal states:

"These pictures and texts are parodies. After all, parody is all about imitation in a slightly modified form. The character of Miffy is obviously changed into the object of laughter and thus the tenor of the original work is made humorous and mostly ironical. This contrast is reinforced by the combination with the accompanying texts. Whereas the texts of Dick Bruna are eminently child-friendly and non-violent, these lyrics and images are mostly rude and aggressive. "

You can read the ruling here.

Reference: ISPam.nl