So, Other than the Vermin in the Shoes, Princess...
My ten-year-old son, W., is working on a short story for his language arts homework. His idea shares some elements of a book he's recently read, so he comes to me with his concerns. "Is that okay?" he asks, after giving me a synopsis of the story.
"You cannot copyright an idea," I tell him. I use the Cinderella story as an example. "Did you know that in the original French fairy tale, Cinderella's shoes were not made of glass at all? They were made of fur." I say the words "vair" and "verre" to show him how easy it would be to confuse glass and fur. "Maybe the translator knew, but thought it made for a more fanciful, romantic story if her shoes were made of glass. Anyway, you cannot use certain elements unique to Disney's 'Cinderella,' but you can retell it in your own words, your own way. Just steer clear of characters Disney created for their version."
"Like what? Like the glass slippers?"
"That, maybe, and a mouse named Gus-Gus, a cat named Lucifee, all the singing, the birds always twittering around, helping Cinderella sew..."
"So, other than the vermin in the shoes, everything was the same?"
Thinking back on that, I think he must've said "vermin and the shoes." Either way, it sounded terribly funny coming from a ten-year-old.
Comments
Nope. First of all, yours bears more resemblance to the public domain original. Second, as a parody, yours is protected under the "fair use doctrine." Clearly, it is not only humorous, but more importantly, critical of the original. See http://www.batnet.com/rjg/parody.html Third, even if the glass slippers were an invention of Disney's (and I really think those came into play in an earlier French-English translation of the tale, anyway), I don't think they can copyright "glass slippers."
Just for future reference, you don't want to be sued by Disney. They're not nice about it, from all I've heard. They sued a daycare center for painting a mural of Disney characters on the side of the building, for instance. (While character names, generally, cannot be copyrighted, companies like Disney and Marvel have been known to trademark them, so be careful - you may be fine on the copyright score, only to be sued for a trademark violation.) I see, though, that the tables are being turned, with hospitals and even Hell's Angels suing Disney over similar violations. ;) Everyone has to play fair.
Its a romantic(ish) fairytale! ;p
I did hear about them suing a school for singing a copyrighted Disney song as part of a school concert. Can't remember where though, maybe it never happened.