Following recent controversies surrounding South Park’s portrayals of US president Donald Trump, it has recently surfaced that one of its show-writers, Toby Morton, has purchased the rights to the web domain ‘trumpkennedycenter.org’.
This follows Donald Trump’s recent self-appointment as the chair of the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., with Mr Morton having predicted that the president would then attach his name to the Centre. Mr Morton stated that he has purchased the domain rights of several websites that could be reasonably linked to known politicians, though he has not revealed exact details.
The website itself contains information and satirical media surrounding Donald Trump’s alleged connections to financier Jeffrey Epstein, including paragraphs which mimic the redactions contained within the much-publicised ‘Epstein Files’.
In a similar fashion, the UK based comedy group ‘The Revolution Will Be Satirized’ have purchased the domain ‘trump-kennedycenter.org’ and have published photographs and interactive paragraphs that depict Donald Trump’s alleged links to Jeffrey Epstein. The group have also published a disclaimer at the bottom of the website highlighting that it is a parody publication, which they ostensibly seek to use as a defence to copyright infringement under section 30A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 should any action against them be forthcoming.
Whether the US president will take action against these parody websites remains to be seen, though he is no stranger to similar action given his very public intentions to pursue the BBC for its portrayal of him. It would be fascinating to see whether the court would accept a defence of caricature, parody or pastiche in copyright proceedings on these facts should proceedings be brought.
If you have any questions on the above, or if you need any advice or support in respect of your own Intellectual Property, please do not hesitate to contact the team at McDaniels Law on 0191 281 4000 or legal@mcdanielslaw.com.
