Parody exception again denied in Belgium

The Antwerp Court of Appeal confirms the tendency in Belgian jurisprudence to be very cautious in its application of the parody exception to copyright infringement. The alleged ‘Miffy’ parody on the cover of the magazine Deng is, according to the court, too slavish a copy of the original, and thus in itself insufficiently original. Moreover the moral rights of artist Dick Bruna were infringed. A freedom of expression appeal was also rejected, this fundamental right being already encapsulated in the existing exceptions to copyright.