Who does a tattoo belong it?

© Delo.si

The designs were recreated without permission from the artists, begging the questions "who own the tattoo?".

Brilio.net/en - Who owns a tattoo? Thats the question coming up in a legal case between Small Oak Sketches, an agency that represents tattoo artists, and makers of the popular video game series NBA2K for $1.1 million. The case revolves around the gamers gully recreating the tattoos of certain players, including LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. The designs were recreated without permission from the artists, which begs the questions who owns a tattoo: the artists who created it or the person who paid for it, and whos skin its etched on for a lifetime.

For the most part, this question wont bother the average citizen. A tattoo artists benefits from his or her work being prominently displayed, with the goals of expanding business. While the artists own the design, the person with the tattoo owns the rights to display it on his body. But when the design is on an artist and the design gets recreated and sold for profit by a third party, the laws become much trickier.

The basic question before the Southern District of New York courts is this: is whatNBA 2Kdoes with tattoos any different than if the game's makers had used an unlicensed photograph to promote their product?

Kobe Bryant & Lebron James inNBA2K via gameinformer.com

There is little debate that tattoos are copyrightable, , according to Yolanda King, Associate Professor at Northern Illinois University College of Law and counsel at Advitam IP, an intellectual property law firm. They are clearly creative works that fall under the purview of intellectual property law, and it is also fairly clear that Take Two violated this copyright by re-creating the works in a digital medium and using them to promote and sell its own product without the artist's permission.

But its not that clear cut, because courts have never ruled on the copyright laws of tattoos before. Furthermore, a tattoo can only exist on another persons body, and surely that person has to have some agency over his or her body.

The one cast that went public was over Mike Tysons tattoo in hit comedy The Hangover 2. Artist Victor Whitmill sued Warner Bros. for recreating the tattoo and including it on promotional items. After some unfavourable comments in court, Warner Bros. settled for an undisclosed sum outside of court. So no real verdict was reached on who owns the copyrights.

(brl/tis)