Copyright links
The Copyright law
Nice plain-language copyright page with a link to information on the DMCA.
So what about parody? A lot of people abuse the notion of parody to excuse copyright infringement. According to Wikipedia's parody article, "The Supreme Court of the United States stated that parody 'is the use of some elements of a prior author's composition to create a new one that, at least in part, comments on that author's works.'"
The important part here is the intent to "comment on that author's works." Note, "comment" not "make fun of." Filks and fan fic are generally not parody, though they can be. This means that you can use Star Wars ideas and characters to comment on Star Wars. But if you sing a song poking fun at Han Solo's relationship to Chewie based on a tune by Madonna, then you aren't commenting on Madonna's song, and are at risk of violating Madonna's copyright.
Nice plain-language copyright page with a link to information on the DMCA.
So what about parody? A lot of people abuse the notion of parody to excuse copyright infringement. According to Wikipedia's parody article, "The Supreme Court of the United States stated that parody 'is the use of some elements of a prior author's composition to create a new one that, at least in part, comments on that author's works.'"
The important part here is the intent to "comment on that author's works." Note, "comment" not "make fun of." Filks and fan fic are generally not parody, though they can be. This means that you can use Star Wars ideas and characters to comment on Star Wars. But if you sing a song poking fun at Han Solo's relationship to Chewie based on a tune by Madonna, then you aren't commenting on Madonna's song, and are at risk of violating Madonna's copyright.