Photographer Files Copyright Infringement Against Famous Tattoo Artist Kat Von D
We’ve seen different kinds of copyright infringement lawsuits, and here’s a very unusual one. Photographer Jeff Sedlik has filed a lawsuit against famous tattoo artist Kat von D who used his photo of Miles Davis for a tattoo. The photographer seeks $150,000 per work depicting the tattoo, along with any “derivative works” she could have made from it.
Kat von D (Katherine Von Drachenberg) became famous after she was a star of the TLC reality TV series LA Ink, running between 2007 and 2011. In March 2017, she used Jeff Sedlik’s photo of Miles Davis as a reference and tattooed it on her client’s arm. She shared it multiple times with her 7.4 million followers on Instagram, as well as on her Facebook page. You can also see the photo in this short clip on YouTube.
According to the lawsuit, Sedlik alleges that her Instagram photo “depicts the ‘final product’ of defendant Kat Von D’s unauthorized and unlicensed reproduction and derivate work of the Iconic Miles Davis Portrait in the form of a tattoo.” He also claims that an HVT Instagram Post from 15 April 2017 “depicts a nearly exact duplication of the Iconic Miles Davis Portrait as reproduced by defendant Kat Von D.”
