Tattoo have traditionally been outside the scope of copyright. Videogames, Social Media and Movies are changing this. *How tattoos collide with copyright *What other rights are in tattoos *Recent cases *Practical basics of rights releases

1. Tattoos and Intellectual
Property
Sarterus Rowe
WSBA #47010
CC BY - @Sarterus Photo @Sarterus
Ink Celeste @ Laughing Buddha
Kanji: do you know it?
Photo & Ink @Velvet_Corpse on IG
Art: PD Girl with a Pearl Earring

2. Sart
Sart@Sarterus.com
WSBA #47010

3. Photo @Sarterus
Ink Scott Falbo
www.ScottFalboArt.com

4. Topics
Copyright
Trademark
Movies
Video games
Fair Use
Bonus: How to Crowdfund Tattoos

5. Copyright Elements
Ink @Velvet_Corpse on IG
Model: Kylie McGrath
Model: PAul Irvine
Ink: Jacob Rempe of 36th St Tattoo Ink: Sara Kay
Art: Franz Marc's foxes
Photo & Model: Alex Fox Ink @Velvet_Corpse on IG
Model: Mall
Quote Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

6. Copyright Elements
Original
Fixed
Creative
Photo & Model
Lady_Evergreen
Artist Unknown

7. Hangover 2 Victor Whitmill vs. Warner Brothers
photo by Glenn Francis of
www.PacificProDigital.com
CC-BY SA
Hangover 2 with Ed Helms
Fair Use

9. Visual Artists Rights Act
Stop Destruction
17 U.S.C. § 106A(a)(3)(B)
London Tattoo removal studio
will laser off your
Kanye West tattoo for FREE

10. Public Display Rights
17 U.S.C. § 106(4)
Photo Courtesy of Jean Potter
Tattoo Owner
Photo Courtesy of Sasja Prentow
Tattoo Owner - Tattoo ironinktattoo.aarhus

12. Cyborgs?
Model DJ Luvrnetic
mixcloud.com/Luvrnetic/
Fair Use

13. Fair Use
Tattoos
On
Payment
Plans

14. Outcome from
Judge Catherine D. Perry
Yes You can
Copyright No
Explanation Just
Assumed

15. Copyright?
Photo & Model
David Fuden
Game Designer

16. Copyright?
Photo & Model
BionicDance (YouTuber)

17. Copyright?
Model Tiah Schindelheim Rodriguez
Suszy Todd Tattoos

18. Copyright?
Model Tiah Schindelheim Rodriguez
Suszy Todd Tattoos
Design Ghost in the Shell

19. Copyright ?
Photo Mal Radagast
Artist Unknown
Place a
Swarm of
Bees at
my
ears…

20. Copyright
Photo Mal Radagast
Artist Unknown
Quote Susanna Clarke Jonathan Strange and
Mr. Norrell Bees - ? Winnie the Pooh
Place a
Swarm of
Bees at
my
ears…

21. Copyright?
Photo & Ink @Velvet_Corpse on IG
Model Anon

22. Copyright?
Photo & Model S Adeleine Sison
Vox Dombek @agenderblob of True Love Tattoo
and Art Gallery on Capitol Hill

23. Copyright?
Model Anna Harmon
Tattoo by Greg Colligan at Slave to the Needle in Wallingford

24. Who Owns This?
Drawn by
Bee Surber (Client)
Ink: Cory Boersa
IG: coryboersma_art
Photo Courtesy of
Bee Surber

25. Unfinished - Can you add to it?
Photo Jade Cutter
Artful Dodger Tattoo (artist retired)

26. Trademark

27. PokePrincxss
Photos From her IG
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_4-
p5BgaOq/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Used Under Fair Use

28. PokePrincxss
™ Registration
Photo From her IG
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_4-
p5BgaOq/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Used Under Fair Use

29. What is Your Advice?

30. DigitalPrincxss
Change Name
Proceeds from Sales
Remove Pokemon Products

31. Does Digimon Now
Have a claim?

32. Video Games

33. Solid Oak Sketches, LLC v. 2K
Games, Inc. 2020

34. 5 Player Tattoos
LeBron James
Kobe Bryant
DeAndre Jordan
Eric Bledsoe
Kenyon Martin
Gameplay Shots Via Youtube
Fair Use

35. Implied License
the tattooists intended the Players to copy and
distribute the Tattoos as elements of their
likenesses,
knowing that the Players were likely to appear ‘in
public, on television, in commercials, or in other
forms of media.'”

36. De Minimis
significantly reduced in size: …
a mere 4.4% to 10.96% of the size that they appear in
real life. …
not displayed [in NBA 2K] with sufficient detail for the
average lay observer to identify even the subject
matter…

37. Fair Use

38. A:
4 factors to balance
Section 107 (basically)
fair use of a copyrighted work…for
purposes such as criticism, comment,
news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or
research, is NOT an infringement of
copyright. In determining fair use consider:
● purpose and character...
commercial nature or is for nonprofit
educational purposes;
● the nature of the work;
● the amount and substantiality …
used
● $ - the effect … upon the potential
market for or value of the work

39. 5 Player Tattoos
LeBron James
Kobe Bryant
DeAndre Jordan
Eric Bledsoe
Kenyon Martin
Gameplay Shots Via Youtube
Fair Use

40. A: Factor 1 Purpose &
Character
AbsolutVision unsplash
Element5 Digital unsplash
Masaaki Komori unsplash

41. 1. Nature of Use
Guess? Creative Commercial - Plays down
Court - “purpose in displaying the Tattoos is entirely different from the purpose for which the
Tattoos were originally created... general recognizability of game figures as depictions of the Players”
tattoos’ trivial percentage of game data
(only 0.000286% to 0.000431%)

42. A: Factor 2 Nature

43. 2. Nature of Work
Tattoo - Creative …but plays down “common
objects and motifs found in Tattoos”

44. A: Factor 3 Amount
DESIGNECOLOGIST unsplash
Photo by Vaskar Sam on Unsplash

45. 3. Amount
Took the whole but that is needed

46. A: Factor 4 Market
Photo by Pepi Stojanovski on Unsplash

47. 4. Market
Transformative, different market

48. Hangover 2 v. NBA 2K16 Takeaways:
Hangover 2 Fair Use
Gameplay Shots Via Youtube
Fair Use
● Amount Used
● Use of Self V. New Art
● Creative Arguments
● Courts have huge discretion
● Rights of Publicity

49. Questions?

50. Sources
Tattoos & IP Norms Aaron Perzanowski 2012
SSRN-id2145048.pdf
The Inky Ambiguity of Tattoo Copyrights: Addressing the Silence of U.S. Copyright Law on Tattooed Works
2019
The Inky Ambiguity of Tattoo Copyrights: Addressing the Silence of U.S. Copyright Law on Tattooed Works |
Iowa Law Review - The University of Iowa (uiowa.edu) 2019
The Right-of-Publicity Challenges for Tattoo Copyrights
Nevada Law Journal, Vol. 16, Spring 2016
Copyright Protection of Tattoos by Yolanda King
Published in Non-conventional Copyright - 2019
THE RIGHT-OF-PUBLICITY CHALLENGES FOR TATTOO COPYRIGHTS
Yolanda M. King 2016

51. Sources
TikTok Star Pokeprincxss Sued By Nintendo
https://gamerant.com/pokeprincxss-sued-by-nintendo/
I GOT SUED BY A GIANT COMPANY - DigitalPricxss
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZhMfRrKV7c
Nimmer Dec Whitmil v. Warnerbrothers Civil Action No. 4:11-cv-752
Videogame Doesn’t Infringe Tattoo Copyright By Depicting Basketball Players–Solid Oak Sketches v.
2K Game by Eric Goldman · https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2020/03/videogame-doesnt-
infringe-tattoo-copyright-by-depicting-basketball-players-solid-oak-sketches-v-2k-games.htm

52. Credits
Sarterus Rowe - CC BY
Sart@Sarterus.com
IG, TikTok, Twitter
@Sarterus

53. Bonus How to Crowdfund a
Tattoo