2 Live Crew wins Supreme Court parody case ruling

Jet, March 28, 1994

In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled recently that rap group 2 Live Crew did not break copyright infringement laws by parodying Roy Orbison's hit song Oh, Pretty Woman. The high court stated that parody can be exempted from copyright law.

In their 9-0 ruling, justices agreed that 2 Live Crew's rap version of the song was a "fair use" of an original, requiring no permission or royalties. The justices rejected a lower court opinion that said commercial parodies are an unfair use of materials under federal copyright law.

The 2 Live Crew version of the song, called Pretty Woman, was on the album As Nasty As They Wanna Be.