What mysterr said, although I would point out that the works-made-for-hire rules are stringent for specially commissioned works like a tattoo. Works created by regular employees within the course of their employment they are automatically treated as WMFH.
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Definitely, but in that instance, copyright is owned by the employer (the owner of the tattoo business probably), which doesn’t really help the customer much.
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I’m not referring to good judges who have their hands tied by the law - but I don’t have to go far to find an example of a bad judge - just a couple posts back on the boinger ironically.
This again shows how those with power in a position of public trust must be held to a higher standard. These would be use cases where we (the people) could make mandatory minimums work for us for a change. A crooked cop - minimum 10yr, crooked cop resulting in injury 20, resulting in loss of life, life without parole. A crooked judge, put him in the iron maiden.
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“I, too!” Drioli was shouting. “I, too, have a picture by this painter! He was my friend and I have a picture which he gave me!” “He’s mad.” “Someone should call the police.”
With a twist of the body Drioli suddenly shook off the man and before anyone could stop him he was running down the gallery shouting, “I’ll show you! I’ll show you! I’ll show you!” He flung off his overcoat, then his jacket and shirt, and he turned so that his naked back was towards the people.
“There!” he cried, breathing quickly. “You see? There it is!”
There was a sudden absolute silence in the room, each person arrested in what he was doing, standing motionless in a kind of shocked, uneasy surprise. They were staring at the tattooed picture. It was still there, the colours as bright as ever. Somebody said, “My God, but it is!” “His early manner, yes?” “It is fantastic, fantastic!” “And look, it is signed!” “Old one, when was this done?” “In 1913,” Drioli said, without turning around. “In the autumn of 1913.” “Who taught Soutine to tattoo?” “I taught him.” “And the woman?”
“She was my wife.”
–from the short story Skin by Roald Dahl. No spoilers, but it does offer a possible solution.
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Stupid question.
If I have a picture that I have taken and have copyright of. I ask them to make a tattoo of the picture for me, can they claim copyright as it is of an image I have copyright of?
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That’s my thought as well. If the tattoo artists win the suit, what does it say about TV right? Photo rights in magazines?
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Take the money, and spend it wisely.
There, right there, is one of the biggest problems with democracy. Stupid people with no imagination still get to vote.
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[quote=“kupfernigk, post:28, topic:73170”]
Stupid people[/quote]
Well, that would be 100% of the human race…
OK, now you’ve narrowed it down by a percentage point or two 
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Uh-oh…my tattoos already cost me an arm and a leg.
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I’d say unless the artist explained explicitly about their copyright over the image prior to the work and got the client to sign a release to this effect they’ve forfeited the right to claim copyright down the line plain & simple.
Much like the absurd EU freedom of panorama copyright claims last year there’s some things that just cannot be monetised. Let’s be realistic, no one’s buying NBA games because some sweet tattoos. Yes rule of law is a good thing, rule of lawyers not so much…
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I have yet to reach your level of cynicism. Perhaps I’m not intelligent enough.
But in fact I would set the bar at the level at which someone listens to a politician and then says “excuse me, could you please run that past me again? And could you explain how it will work?” instead of shouting. I make that an IQ of about +2 sigma. The reverse problem is that lack of stupidity does not automatically mean good long term decision making. I have no answer for that.
- Take a picture, allow a tattoo artist to give you a tattoo of your copyrighted image, for profit.
- Sue the artist for using your work for profit.
- Profit!
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Septicaemia is a bitch, isn’t it?
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Iron Maiden? Excellent!
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Having worked in the video game industry, and taken a fair amount of tattoo photo reference, changing the tattoo slightly to avoid a lawsuit would mean altering 70% of the tattoo (at least that’s was I was told by art directors). How does one go about changing 70% you ask? You can’t. The artists make something that looks similar and hopes that whatever company or person they are imitating has lazy lawyers. Any halfway decent lawyer can make a case based on “likeness”.
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A good reason not to get a tattoo. I have seen a cigarette company pay people thousands of dollars to get their log tattooed, and I cannot imagine the ways that would be a hassle in the future.
Probably. As a tattoo it likely can’t be an exact copy with no creative expression, so, since the conversion to a tattoo involves creative expression, the tattoo would be a derivative work that would have it’s own copyright on top of yours, and people would need permission from both rights holders.
IANAL, but keep in mind that because statute, copyright transfers must be written. Oral agreements cannot transfer copyright. So if you want the copyright to a tatto, you’ll need a written agreement from the tattoo artist. If the tattoo is copied out of a flash book, though, you might have to try to get permission from the publishers of the flash book, too.
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For a moment I read “deification”. And that’s not too inappropriate either.
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Tell me more about this log. Is it better than bad?
I recommend to you both the handbook of the Not Terribly Good Club of Great Britain, and Cipolla’s basic laws of stupidity. If you study these epistles diligently, soon your cynicism will reach heights undreamt.
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