Are Tattoos Copyrightable? NBA Video Game Maker Sued for Using LeBron, Kobe Body Art

By | February 2, 2016

  • February 2, 2016 at 4:01 pm
    ExciteBiker says:
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    I sound like a broken record, but our intellectual property laws are insane.

    We are locking up our culture–arguably America’s single greatest asset and our best tool to further our goal of spreading American democracy–under threat of massive statutory penalties and onerous legal fees.

    Unfortunately rather than enacting common sense reforms designed to benefit the public while still protecting content creators we instead seek to expand and spread our broken copyright regime across the world. And we do this mostly because Disney, a company which has hugely profited from farming works from the public domain, won’t ever let Mickey Mouse–an 88-year old creation–enter it.

    Heck, it took countless legal hours and years just to invalidate Warner’s bogus copyright on the ancient song “Happy Birthday.”

    We need a 10-year default copyright term w/ 10-year extensions available by request (not by default) up to a 30-year max copyright term. We need legislation freeing orphan works into the public domain or at minimum getting rid of the ridiculous statutory penalties a company might face for daring to do something like release a 70-year old lost jazz recording by an unknown long dead artist. We need to drastically amend the flawed DCMA.

    Alas, we will only get more of whatever Disney wants.

    If I write a song and live another 50 years, my song won’t be in the public domain until the year 2141.

    Remember– intellectual property is a government-granted monopoly. Any and every extension of IP rights comes at the direct expense of the public.

  • February 3, 2016 at 8:49 am
    tattooDavid says:
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    The tattoo artists created the tattoo’s as a “work for hire”. As such, the art they created (i.e. the tattoos, and their design rights) became property of the person hiring the artist. Therefore, the game maker got the rights to use the likeness of the art when they purchased the right to use the lioness of the athlete.

  • September 6, 2016 at 2:18 pm
    vintageweddinginvitations says:
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    Science is one thing, wisdom is another. Science is an edged tool, with which men play like children, and cut their own fingers.



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