Inked - Discuss Tattoos & Piercings Here -- LiveWire Teen Forums

Quote: from Loud Dog at 12:07 am on Dec. 10, 2007

Creativity is not a prerequisite for being a tattoo artist.

Maybe not on paper it isn't, but to be any sort of artist, you obviously need some degree of creativity.

What about people who intentionally want to replicate a design? Should they not be allowed to do that?

Without the permission of the original tattoo artist, no.

The original artist is not being deprived of work, because the person is not going to travel however far to get them to do it anyway.

It's a simple case if tough luck if the original artist doesn't want their work copied. As you've already pointed out and as I am aware, many tattoo artists are willing to allow other artists to use or copy their work. Apply this statement to other forms of intellectual property - it's just not fair on the original artist. For example, if someone in America wants a paint job on their car from a specific company in New Zealand. Just because that company doesn't want to pay to send an artist and their equipment to America doesn't mean that an American artist is automatically allowed to copy the paint job and make money from it.

It makes no damn sense to make certain designs exclusive and force people to find the owner if they want one.

Yes, it does. That's probably the main foundation of copyright law. You must obtain permission from the original artist if you wish to use their work in a way that copyright law prohibits, e.g. to make profit from it. If a tattoo artist wishes to allow other artists to use their work, all they have to do is express it. If they wish to allow only a few artists to use their work, then they can simply ask the interested artists to contact them. It isn't that hard, as a tattooed person, to remember where the tattoo was done or even the artist's name.

As for undeserved reputation, around here anyway the reputation of the artist is based on the quality of the work, not the composition. The design is largely irrelevant in relation to judging the artist. Aside from that, who the hell goes to a tattoo artist and asks them for a design without actually knowing what they want it to look like?

What's stopping the artist from modifying the tattoo so that it reflects their own style, while still satisfying the customer's desires?

how much do you have to change a design for it to be allowable?

I'm pretty sure this is determined on a case-by-case basis with any other copyright infringements.

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