Randy Orton’s tattoo artist sues Take-Two Interactive and WWE for copying her designs

Catherine Alexander, Randy Orton’s tattoo artist has sued Take-Two Interactive & WWE for copyright infringement. The lawsuit was filed on 09/26/20.

Take-Two Interactive is the parent company of ‘2K‘ which is a prominent publisher widely known for the WWE 2K and NBA 2K video game franchises.

Often considered a G.O.A.T in the world of wrestling by many, Randy Orton is a WWE(World Wrestling Entertainment) Wrestler who has been competing under the brand for more than 18 years.

Back in the days, Randy was one of the few wrestlers known and recognized for their tattoos. His unique tattoos have become a inseparable part of his wrestling persona.

Randy Orton’s tattoo artist Catherine Alexander had contacted WWE’s legal department back in 2009 in an attempt to negotiate a license to use her tattoo work on the faux sleeve WWE was planning to introduce for sale.

“The person laughed at me and said I had no grounds, and they can do what they want with his images”, said Alexander. “He is their wrestler.”

The person reportedly stated she had no grounds and that they could do whatever they wanted with Orton’s images because he was their wrestler. WWE then offered Catherine Alexander $450 for the extensive rights to use and produce the tattoo designs on WWE products, which she declined while making it clear that she hadn’t given the permission to use or reproduce her tattoo designs.

The lawsuit is filed because Take-Two Interactive’s 2K has reproduced Randy Orton’s tattoos in the WWE 2K games which reportedly infringes copyright.

The defendants argue that Alexander’s copyright claim fails as,

1. Take-Two’s use of the tattoos was authorized by an implied license
2. The fair use doctrine insulates their utilization of the tattoos in the WWE 2K videogames
3. the tattoos are a ‘de minimis‘ part of WWE 2K

further arguing that the damages done cannot be proven by Alexander.

Take-Two Interactive had faced a similar lawsuit back in 2016 over the reproduction of tattoos of NBA superstars LeBron James, Kenyon Martin and Eric Bledsoe, in NBA2K  games. The company won the lawsuit earlier this year, as the judge ruled that the tattoos were hard to make out and hence there was no way to identify if the tattoos were substancially similar or not. The judge also stated that the use of copyright material was ‘de minimis‘.

Even though, Take-Two Interactive has won the lawsuit for copyright of LeBron James’ tattoo designs, this lawsuit is different altogether and can go a different way.

There’s also a chance that Take-Two Interactive & Alexander will settle for the matter outside of the court. There has been one such occurence in the past. A tattoo artist(Victor Whitmill) once sued and settled with Warner Bros. over a reproduction of Mike Tyson’s face tattoo in The Hangover Part II.

Take-Two has obtained a license to portray Orton’s likeness in WWE 2K from WWE, which itself was licensed by Randy Orton.

Also, it is important to note that Take-Two Interactive  is portraying a virtual version of Orton’s appearance/likeness in the game and not just the tattoos.

You can have a look at rest of the ruling here.