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Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Project Angel Food
A jury determined Friday that celebrity tattoo artist Kat Von D did not violate a photographer’s copyright when she used his portrait of Miles Davis as the basis for a tattoo she gave on a friend’s arm.
The Los Angeles jury deliberated for a little more than two hours before deciding that the former “Miami Ink” and “LA Ink” reality TV star’s tattoo was not similar enough to photographer Jeffrey Sedlik’s 1989 portrait of the jazz legend enough for her to need paid leave.
“I’m obviously very happy this is over,” Von D, who tattooed her friend’s arm with Davis as a gift about seven years ago, said outside the courtroom. “It’s been a nightmare two years worrying about this, not only for myself but for my fellow tattoo artists.”
The eight jurors made the same decision on a drawing Von D made of the portrait to base the tattoo on, and on several social media posts she made about the process, which were also part of Sedlik’s lawsuit. And they found that the tattooing, drawing and postings also fell within the legal doctrine of fair use of a copyrighted work, giving Von D and other tattoo artists who supported her and followed the trial a sweeping victory. and resonant.
“We have said all along that this case should never have been filed,” Von D’s attorney said. Allen B. Grodsky he said after the verdict. “The jury recognized that this was simply ridiculous.”
Sedlik’s lawyer Robert Edward Allen They said they plan to appeal. She said the images, which showed a close-up of Davis looking toward the viewer and making a “shh” gesture, were so similar that she didn’t know how the jury could reach the conclusion they did.
“If those two things are not substantially similar, then no one’s art is safe,” Allen said.
Last Friday, during closing arguments, he told the jury that the case “has nothing to do with tattoos.”
“It’s about copying the protected works of others,” Allen said. “It’s not going to hurt the tattoo industry. “The tattoo police are not going to chase anyone.”
Allen emphasized the meticulous work Sedlik did in setting up the shoot, creating the lighting and mood, and putting Davis in the pose that would result in an iconic photo that was first published on the cover of JAZZIZ magazine in 1989. Sedlik registered the copyright in 1994.
And he said that subsequently licensing the image to others, including tattoo artists, was an important part of his livelihood.
Von D said during the three-day trial that he never licenses the images he recreates and that he considers works like Davis’s tattoo a form of “fan art.”
“I didn’t make any money from it,” he testified. “I’m not mass producing anything. “I think there is a big difference.”
His lawyer Grodsky emphasized to the jury that the lack of an attempt to profit from the image was essential for the tattoo to be a form of fair use, an exception in copyright law used for works that include comments, criticisms and parodies.
Allen argued in her closing that the social media posts about the tattoo were a promotion for her and her studio and therefore a way to monetize the image.
If jurors had sided with Sedlik, they could have awarded him as little as a few hundred dollars or as much as $150,000.
Von D was among the stars of the reality series “Miami Ink” and was later the featured artist on its spinoff “LA Ink,” which aired on TLC from 2007 to 2011.
Von D, 41, whose legal name is Katherine von Drachenberg, was already a prominent young tattoo artist when she became a television personality through her appearances on TLC’s “Miami Ink” beginning in 2005 on TLC. She was the central star of her spin-off, “LA Ink,” which ran from 2007 to 2011 and made her arguably the most famous tattoo artist in the country.
Von D said that despite the victory, she is not excited about returning to work.
“I don’t think I ever want to get tattooed again, my heart has been crushed by this in different ways,” he said. “We’ll see in time.”