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Writewords Forums » Ethical Issues » Copyright on jokes
  • Copyright on jokes
    by NMott at 10:12 on 11 November 2009
    Interestong article in the Daily Telegraph about comediens complaining of plagiarism:

    Under UK law, a joke spoken by a comedian during a live performance cannot be copyrighted unless it is recorded or has been written down beforehand. Copyright only covers the exact form of words used to express a joke rather than the general idea behind it.


    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/comedy/6542305/Comedians-complain-of-plagiarism-on-Twitter-and-joke-websites.html



    <Added>

    Charlotte Harris, a partner at JMW Solicitors, who specialises in copyright, said: “"I would tell the comedians to write down their material, say what date they wrote it on and stick it on their computer so they had some evidence.

    “Then they have a script of some kind, and if there's a bit of ad-libbing then that's fine, because the test for copyright is if it's substantially the same."

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