Permission to Parody?
I was surprised to learn that Weird Al has to get permission to make his parodies. Michael Jackson allowed “Eat It”, Madonna allowed “Like A Surgeon”, but Eminem Won’t Let ‘Weird Al’ Parody Video for 8 Mile.
I find this behavior to be just a tad bit hypocritical from an artist who mocked Moby in his own work — and I’m sure that was without permission. But what does this say about copyright? Could there be any artist on Earth whose work is more clearly parody than Weird Al’s? I submit there is not.