“Von D, who rose to fame after starring in the reality shows Miami Ink and LA Ink, has now added solid black ink to cover up a couple of tattoos she no longer likes on her back, leaving the part of her body covered in one big solid black tattoo.
Taking to her Instagram Stories, the former LA Ink star revealed that she’d had the back of her neck and almost the entire top of her back blacked out, telling her 8.9 million followers: “Got so much done today! Thank you so much @hoode215!”
Von D has also blacked out her entire left leg, leaving only one tattoo visible.
The image shows the back of the heavily inked star, as her shoulders, neck and half of her back are covered in the solid black ink. The ink stops halfway down her back, indicating she will return to continue her dark cover up another time.
The artist explained her choices further on another Instagram post, saying: “Before anyone starts criticizing, I encourage you to remember that it’s ok not to like or even understand things.
“Trust me, I’ve seen plenty of tattoos I personally would never get. And those differences make this world so much more interesting! So no need to comment any negativity.”
Von D has been getting the solid black cover ups ever since December 2020, when she first started with inking the whole of her arms.
It’s not one solid black tattoo though, as she’s chosen to leave some treasured pieces visible – including an image of her father on her forearm amongst others.
After getting her arm blacked out in 2020, Von D shared an update with her followers as she wrote on her Instagram at the time: “Feels so good to finally cover up so many of the tattoos I got back when I used to drink. Those tattoos meant nothing to me but landmarks in dark times, and I’m so lucky to have the best blackout artist @hoode215 cover them up for me!
“Now my arm looks so nice and clean, and the portrait of my Father stands out even more.”
Addressing the ongoing court case, lawyers for Von D wrote in a filing: “Holding tattoo artists civilly liable for copyright infringement will necessarily expose the clients of these artists to the same civil liability anytime they choose to get tattoos based on copyrighted source material, display their tattooed bodies in public, or share social media posts of their tattoos.
“That is not the law and cannot be the law.”
Von D insists that her version of the picture is transformative of the original, and therefore there is no copyright infringement.
Niamh Spence
Kat Von D Sued Over Tattoo In First-Of-Its-Kind Lawsuit
Featured Image Credit: Alamy
A photographer is suing celebrity tattoo artist Kat Von D for copyright infringement in a landmark case that is believed to be the first of its kind.
In short, the photographer alleges that in using a photograph as reference for a tattoo, Kat Von D has infringed copyright and violated his intellectual property rights.
The case centres around a tattoo that Von D, who is actually called Katherine Von Drachenberg, inked in 2017.
It shows American jazz legend Miles Davis with his fingers on his lips, an image that was captured originally on camera by Jeffrey Sedlik.
While Von D was not paid for her work on the tattoo, she did later share it on her social media.
In 2021, Sedlik filed a suit against the celebrity tattooist, claiming that her work is substantially similar to his photograph.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Californian copyright attorney Aaron Moss explained: “Essentially he’s saying that the tattoo is substantially similar to his photograph of Miles Davis and therefore Kat Von D has committed copyright infringement.”
Despite that, Von D insists that her version of the picture is transformative of the original, and therefore there is no copyright infringement.
However, a federal judge in California has ruled that the case can be brought to trial.
In a filing, lawyers for Von D wrote: “Holding tattoo artists civilly liable for copyright infringement will necessarily expose the clients of these artists to the same civil liability anytime they choose to get tattoos based on copyrighted source material, display their tattooed bodies in public, or share social media posts of their tattoos.
“That is not the law and cannot be the law.”
If a judge finds in favour of Sedlik, it could mean a significant change to the tattooing profession, limiting what artists can and can’t ink onto people’s skin.
The ramifications for the industry are huge, and there’s a lot at stake.
Kristelia Garcia, a teacher of copyright, patent, and intellectual property law at the University of Colorado said: “It’s Miles Davis with his finger to his mouth and admittedly, even Kat Von D used the photograph as a reference photograph, but ultimately put her own spin on it and the question for the jury would be, did she do enough to change it?”
Another copyright lawyer – not affiliated with the case – Amelia Brankov told Artnet News: “A finding of infringement would effectively make public display of the tattooed person’s arm an act of infringement.
“This could give pause to tattoo artists who are asked to ink third-party imagery on their clients.”
Von D came to fame after starring in the reality shows Miami Ink and LA Ink. Her Instagram account has more than 900,000 followers. “
Credits: This article was quoted from Unilad https://www.unilad.com/celebrity/kat-von-d-cover-up-black-tattoo-683620-20230303