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Athletes Don’t Own Their Tattoos – a Problem for Video Game Developers

nytimes.com

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Re: Athletes Don’t Own Their Tattoos – a Problem for Video Game Developers

#21

Post by wmil »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #18
HelloFellowDevs wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “My tattoos are a part of my persona and identity,” Mr. James wrote in a declaration of support for Take-Two and 2K Games. “If I am not shown with my tattoos, it wouldn’t really be a depiction of me.” It comes down to how realistic you want the game to be. With games that pitch themselves as the pinnacle of being realistic with improvements made every year, not having the correct tattoos would break the realism. Es…

That's a bit crazy to me, but if that's how he feels, it's not like any other game will get any closer to it, that or they can blur the tattoo can't they? On another note, if I buy a canvas painting from another artist, and then I sell it for millions, but only paid $500 for said painting, can the painter sue me for copyright despite the painting being my property? If not... why are tattoos any different?

Because you aren't copying it. First sale doctrine, you're allowed to resell your copy.

Re: Athletes Don’t Own Their Tattoos – a Problem for Video Game Developers

#23

Post by JustSomeNobody »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #18
HelloFellowDevs wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “My tattoos are a part of my persona and identity,” Mr. James wrote in a declaration of support for Take-Two and 2K Games. “If I am not shown with my tattoos, it wouldn’t really be a depiction of me.” It comes down to how realistic you want the game to be. With games that pitch themselves as the pinnacle of being realistic with improvements made every year, not having the correct tattoos would break the realism. Es…

That's a bit crazy to me, but if that's how he feels, it's not like any other game will get any closer to it, that or they can blur the tattoo can't they? On another note, if I buy a canvas painting from another artist, and then I sell it for millions, but only paid $500 for said painting, can the painter sue me for copyright despite the painting being my property? If not... why are tattoos any different?

You can’t both display the painting at the same time.

Re: Athletes Don’t Own Their Tattoos – a Problem for Video Game Developers

#24

Post by csours »

pubby wrote: post #15
tgb wrote: post #13

If you hire an artist to paint a landscape for you, do you have total ownership of that painting? Could you recreate it digitally and sell it? Assume no extra rights were explicitly transferred, just a standard commission of a piece of art, whatever that entails. I would have assumed that the answers to these were both yes, but this article makes me think not.

Not in the USA and most countries.

Purchasing art does not give me the right to copy and resell it, Ok; but contracting an artist surely gives me the right to copy and resell the art?

Or are you saying that the contract must explicitly state what formats are included in the contract?

Re: Athletes Don’t Own Their Tattoos – a Problem for Video Game Developers

#25

Post by michaelt »

wccrawford wrote: post #5

"Lawyers generally agree that an implied license allows people to freely display their tattoos in public, including on television broadcasts or magazine covers. " Seems to me that the digital representation of someone is just another way of displaying themselves. If it's legal to do it in photos and videos, it's legal to do it in 3D models. But even without that, I think it's unethical to claim ownership to any part…

  If it's legal to do it in photos and videos,
  it's legal to do it in 3D models.
Perhaps it ought to be by extension but apparently it's far from a settled matter.

I mean, our copyright laws are full of weird seeming-contradictions. Games companies pay to license an athlete's likeness, but photographers don't? Photographs of a sculpture are copyright-protected, but photographs of tattoos aren't? Architecture with an expired copyright can be lit up with lights to regain copyright protection?

Copyright law isn't really amenable to deducing that one thing is legal just because another very similar thing is legal.

Re: Athletes Don’t Own Their Tattoos – a Problem for Video Game Developers

#26

Post by giancarlostoro »

wmil wrote: post #21
giancarlostoro wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a bit crazy to me, but if that's how he feels, it's not like any other game will get any closer to it, that or they can blur the tattoo can't they? On another note, if I buy a canvas painting from another artist, and then I sell it for millions, but only paid $500 for said painting, can the painter sue me for copyright despite the painting being my property? If not... why are tattoos any different?

Because you aren't copying it. First sale doctrine, you're allowed to resell your copy.

Ah right, so it would only be an issue if I were to start selling copies of the painting that I forged, stole or something.

Re: Athletes Don’t Own Their Tattoos – a Problem for Video Game Developers

#27

Post by watt »

mbrumlow wrote: post #2

Seems to me the only logical thing to do in a digital world is to abadon the idea of intellectual property?

This with the other article doing some troll logic mental gymnastics trying to convince us that dance moves/choreography should be copyrightable[1] (or intellectual property) really brings out the point how absurd the notion of IP/copyright is.

When will we see that the whole thing is a sham and needs to be abandoned?

https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/20/18149869/fortnite-dance-...

Re: Athletes Don’t Own Their Tattoos – a Problem for Video Game Developers

#29

Post by geggam »

wycs wrote: post #28
wmil wrote: post #22

Lets get weirder. Can a plastic surgeon own the rights to someone's nose? It's basically a sculpture.

It’s almost like intellectual property is an absurd injustice.

The concept that any individual is the only entity capable of creating a specific work is simply false.

The artificial limitations on creativity are impeding economic growth and need to be removed

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