Carnival did not start with confetti for a carnival artist from Tilburg this year. In summary proceedings the court ruled that the carnival song 'Willies Car Palace' indeed infringes on the personality rights of another musician. The song is not a parody and therefore constitutes unauthorized infringement.

Impairment of personality rights 

Every author of a work, such as a song, has copyright to it. In addition, the author derives so-called personality rights to that work. The author can invoke these even after an assignment of copyright. 

The Tilburg carnival song 'Willies Car Palace' violates the personality rights of the author of the song 'Danny's Car Palace', according to the preliminary relief judge. Both the title of the song and most of the lyrics correspond to the original song. Moreover, the chorus is virtually the same. The way the infringing song is presented in the clip also plays a role in the assessment. The carnival song creates confusion with the older song, and this could have adverse financial consequences for its author.

Singing a different tune

The Tilburg singer appealed in vain to the parody exception in the Dutch Copyright Act. According to him it is clear that the song mocks him as a car salesman and that it is meant as a carnival joke. The preliminary relief judge did not go along with this: 'Willies Car Palace’ is too similar to 'Danny's Car Palace’ in terms of lyrics, performance and theme. This does not distance it sufficiently from the original work. Even the Tilburg dialect does not detract from this. The carnival song therefore infringes the personality rights of the creator of 'Danny's Car Palace’. Tilburg Willie must pay over 9,000 euros in legal costs. 

Luna Snellenberg

31 March 2023