A parody may qualify as a type of fair use, but again successfully asserting a fair use defense can be difficult to accomplish. In order for your artwork to qualify as fair use of this nature, it must provide critical commentary on the original work. Simply identifying your work as a parody in its title or description or tagging it as a parody is not enough.
While mustaches are hilarious, they might not be enough to constitute parody.
Parody is a little different from satire, which comments on something other than the original work and is less likely to qualify as fair use in the United States. In Australia, there is a specific exception to copyright infringement for fair dealing with copyright-protected material for the purpose of parody or satire.
Obligatory Yet Very Important Legal Disclaimer:
Don’t be fooled by any complicated jargon (and how snazzy we look in pinstripe). We are not your lawyer and this is not legal advice. We recommend contacting an attorney if you need an actual legal consultation.
Rather, this is general information aimed at giving you the legal lay of the land. While we can’t defend you in court, we know that art and IP ownership can be murky territory; the least we can do is arm you with the right kind of knowledge to get you started.