The part of this piece that is important is the exploration of “substantiality”, what exactly it means and how it is used in the courts in regards to copyright infringement.  The author explains that there are multiple connotations that “substantiality” takes on in court.  The first connotation of substantiality as a “criterion of infringement involves the ‘ordinary observer’ test.”  Under this test it must “spontaneously and immediately” appear to the average person that the newly created work used or was based on the original.  This test is rough for obvious reasons.  Also, it would be almost impossible to ask the “average person” to tell right away the difference between material that is appropriated and that which is simply similar to the original.  The second connotation involves economics and has no relation to my thesis. The third connotation is almost the opposite of the first and is based on “literary analysis or classification,” or in other words an ‘expert opinion.’  This connotation is helpful in making ‘substantiality’ qualitative rather than quantitative, but not so helpful in that it often leads the court into “abstract literary speculations unrelated to the ends of the copyright law.”  The final connotation is that of ‘substantiality’ as a quantitative test, though this connotation is rejected.  The paper then goes on to show how these connotations of substantiality relate directly to parodies through examples.

[Note: this is the second part to the first tag of this article that didn't fit in the original box]

<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> The substantiality argument is relevant to my thesis because the question of substantiality is one of the least clear points in determining whether or not my play is fair use.  I can explore the different connotations of substantiality explained in this paper in relation to my play, particularly the first and third connotations.  Initially it seems that the first connotation would reject fair use and the third would accept it in this case, but further exploration is necessary to determine for sure.