Does a custom tattoo design really have copyright protection?
The simple answer: Yes, an original tattoo design is a copyrightable work. Originality is key. Still, I get a lot of people asking me how any tattoo artist has a copyright for a design of an old school dagger or Japanese-inspired dragon – tattoo motifs that have been around forever. But keep in mind the requirement is that the work be original not unique. This means that a tattoo artist can have copyright protection for a Japanese dragon if the design is his or her own expression of that motif. The best example is in the case of Gonzales v. Kid Zone, Ltd. and Transfer Technologies, Inc. (2001), where David Gonzales, a California artist, sued Kid Zone, Ltd. and Transfer Technologies, Inc., for stealing his copyright protected artwork in the creation and sale of stick-on tattoos. The defendants argued that the themes used for the tattoos were eagles, the Virgin Mary, and national flags. How could these concepts belong to a single person? The court said that copyright protects specific ex
