Tattoos and Copyright
Copyright is one of the few issues that did *not* arise when Avvo Blog last visited Tattoos. In the NYT Ideas Blog today, the issue of tattoo artists having copyright claims to their tattoos is explored. The post links to a couple of law review articles that explore the implications of this issue. The Lewis & Clark law review article explores the issues in the context of the dispute that arose between Rasheed Wallace, Nike and Rasheed’s tattoo artist:
Tattoos are almost ubiquitous these days, with body piercing likely following closely behind. With advertising increasingly displaying skin- from hip huggers to cropped shirts to a basketball jersey showing an athlete’s tattooed arm-actors, actresses, and sports figures display both forms of body art on television, the silver screen, billboards, and the Internet for consumer product and service providers who hope to benefit from increased sales. But businesses, advertising agencies, and celebrities often lose sight of any interest that tattoo artists may have in the tattoos and body piercings. In this Article, Mr. Harkins uses the recent copyright infringement lawsuit stemming from the advertising use of basketball player Rasheed Wallace’s tattoo to analyze the current state of copyright law’s application to body art.
