Managing Attorney at Ortynska Law PLLC Mariya Ortynska has delivered a presentation on the topic of copyright in memes and reels in the course of the IP-Practice 2025 conference, organized by National Association of Patent Attorneys of Ukraine (NAPA) on October 10, 2025.
Copyright attorney Mariya Ortynska has raised the issue of problematic aspects of copyright in content types such as memes and reels. Such content may be a parody of the original work and often expresses an idea, and ideas are not protected by copyright. Memes and reels are widely used by various individuals without permission. Finally, the use of a meme may fall under the fair use doctrine.
As an example, Mariya brought up and reviewed the Success Kid case. An important aspect of this case was the issue of copyright abandonment, which is essentially a deliberate renunciation of authorship of a work. The author loses control over the work by placing it in the public domain. Two essential elements are linked with copyright abandonment:
- an intent to give up all rights in the work, demonstrated by the copyright owner;
- “overt act” clearly showing such intent.
In the discussed case, active licensing and other actions became arguments against the conclusion of copyright abandonment.
Fair use of a copyrighted work does not constitute copyright infringement. When discussing the fair use doctrine, it is important to refer to certain factors, such as:
- purpose and nature of use;
- nature of the copyrighted work;
- extent and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;
- effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
Copyright attorney Mariya Ortynska provides services on copyright registration and licensing, as well as copyright counseling and dispute resolution. Visit the Copyright services page to learn more about copyright protection and registration at Ortynska Law.
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