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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/20009
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/20009
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Stephen Fry wrote a novel called [_The Stars’ Tennis Balls_](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0091801516), and claimed that only afterwards did he realize he’d rewritten [_The Count of Monte Cristo_](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0140449264).

Fry’s novel is set in modern-day England; Dumas’s is in 1840s France and Italy. I haven’t read either to say what else is similar or different.

My question is, how close of a parody or satire can you write of a copyrighted work before it becomes plaigiarism? How much do you have to change? Where is the line between "that's funny" and "that's theft"?

(I’m not talking about obvious, blunt parody like _Bored of the Rings_ or _Spamalot/Monty Python and the Holy Grail_, or even _Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,_ but more like _Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead._)

This is not the same question as [How much is considered plagiarism?](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/14580/how-much-is-considered-plagiarism) because I'm not talking about creating an original, straightforward piece inspired by something else, but rather deliberately copying a specific original _with the intent of gently mocking it_ by updating and changing a few bits. What I'm not sure about is how many bits have to be changed, or to what degree.

Original score: 5