"The legality in this case is somewhat moot," Yankovic writes
when contacted via e-mail. "James Blunt could still let me put it on my album if
he really wanted to, but he obviously doesn't want to alienate his own record
company... and my label could release the parody without Atlantic's blessing,
but they don't really want to go to war with another label over this. So really,
it's more of a political matter than a legal matter." Yankovic is absolutely correct. Although he does ask permission of artists, he need not. The infamous 2 Live Crew case states this principle. The case is called Campbell, aka Skyywalker, et al. v Acuff Rose Music, Inc. 510 U.S. 569 (1994). Many people don't remember 2 Live Crew's parody of "Oh, Pretty Woman," the Roy Orbison hit song. (That's, frankly, a good thing.) website below