Did Tamil Padam infringe the copyrights of all the movies it ridiculed?

The best example that can be given for parody as far as Tamil Cinema is concerned is the ‘Tamil Padam’ series. We all know Mirchi Shiva’s entertaining flicks, Tamil Padam 1 and 2.

The movies made fun of all famous tamil cinemas from the past, it mocked dialogues, choreographies and even lyrics of famous songs etc. The question is whether original creators can sue the creator of Tamil Padam 1 and 2. Well the answer is No. And let us see why?

The famous two words in the copyright world is the “fair use”, Fair use is a judge made law whereas India follows fair dealing which is a legislative provision given under section 52 of the Indian Copyright Act. A work that takes a little portion of an already existing work and gives out a different meaning or contains another expression using a pre-existing work is not a copyright infringement and it is protected under fair use. These works are also called transformative works. Lifting choreographs, camera angles, costumes and a small portion of sequence from other works and making a transformative work is completely not an infringement.

Tamil Cinema industry is evolving as creators touch the untouched genre of movies, we see time-travel movies, dark-horror, movies with the concept of loop etc. All these contents are welcomed by the audience. The exception of copyright infringement, fair use allows the audience to enjoy various types of movies and also allows creators to exercise their freedom to make experimental content. What is your view on parody? Do you think more parody movies should be made?