Catherine Alexander Tattoo Artist Of WWE Wrestler Randy Orton — Wins Case Over Tattoo Designs Used In WWE 2K Video Games Without Her Permission
By Sidra Lackey
Catherine Alexander, the tattoo artist who inked wrestler Randy Orton’s iconic tattoos, recently won a case against the publisher of the popular WWE 2K video games, BBC reports.
A US jury found she was entitled to compensation and Alexander was awarded $3,750 in damages.
Alexander accused Take-Two Interactive of using her tattoo designs without getting her permission. Her lawsuit focused on five tattoo designs that are all featured on the WWE superstar wrestler’s body. Alexander’s case was first filed in 2018. She claimed five tattoos: tribal tattoos, skulls, a bible verse, and a dove and rose, were her original designs, BBC further reports in, “WWE: Randy Orton's tattoo artist wins case over designs in game.”
According to BBC, court documents state that Alexander created them between 2003-2008, and that the art was "easily recognised by [Orton's] fans and members of the public". She claimed WWE contacted her offering to pay $450 to use a design in its merchandise, which she turned down. After this, the court was told, she "did not grant any permission to WWE to copy, duplicate or otherwise use or reproduce any of the plaintiff's designs".
Take-Two Interactive argued, “the tattoos were protected under fair use rules that allowed it to recreate Orton in the video games.” The judge in the case declared that "authenticity" was an important factor in the games, and that "WWE would have rejected Orton's videogame persona if it appeared without his tattoos or appeared with tattoos that were different than Orton's actual tattoos," BBC discloses.
BBC points out this isn't the first time that a video game company has been sued for not getting permission to replicate the tattoos of a celebrity in a video game. Take-Two Interactive were unsuccessfully sued in 2016 by tattoos artists for using basketball star LeBron James' tattoos in the NBA 2K games without permission. LeBron said at the time: "I always thought that I had the right to license what I look like to other people for various merchandise, television appearances, and other types of creative works, like video games."
Catherine Alexander’s win is a win for all tattoo artists. Hopefully companies are now starting to see they clearly have to go through proper business protocols if they want to use an artist’s work, or they can be sued and lose.
Tattoo artists, what do you think of the influx of tattoo artists suing companies because their tattoos are being used somewhere without their permission? What is your take on fair use rules? Would you personally not care if your tattoo work was used with your permission? Or would you sue someone if you found they used your tattoo designs without your permission?