Legal ink: an overview of copyright law and tattoos

Abstract

In a not-too-distant past, tattoos were reserved for uncles who served in the Navy or hazy nights and mornings of regret on a spring break trip to Jamaica. Writer Jack London once mused, ‘Show me a man with a tattoo and I’ll show you a man with an interesting past’. All this said, the rise of tattoos into the mainstream has been a defining aspect of 21st century western culture. Tattoos have moved from ‘deviant’ and ‘alternative’ subcultures to popular culture, becoming a powerful element of self-identity. From Paramount Network’s Ink Master (not to be confused with the spin-off Ink Master: Angel) to tattooed film superheroes such as Harley Quinn and the extensively tattooed bodies of celebrities and athletes broadcasted across social media, tattoos are now not only inscribed into increasing numbers of Millennial and Gen Z bodies but also into mainstream popular culture. With the erosion of previously...