Online Creators Zapped With IP, Copyright Lawsuits

It’s weird when wrestling superstar Randy Orton, Netflix’s romance “Bridgerton,” TikTok, a tattoo artist, Instagram, NFTs, and Andy Warhol’s portrait of Prince all show up in the same law school textbook, Alexandra Peers reported for CNN Business.

Photo Insert: Three weeks ago, in a first-of-its-kind case, a jury in an Illinois federal court ruled that tattoo artist Catherine Alexander’s copyright was violated when the likeness of her client, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) star Randy Orton, was depicted in a video game.

A series of hot-button lawsuits have linked all those unlikely creators and platforms in litigation that goes as high as the US Supreme Court. The litigation deals with issues of intellectual property, copyright infringement, and fair use in a rapidly changing new-media landscape.

For decades, so-called “copycat” lawsuits boiled down to “you stole my song/book/idea.’’ Now, as the number of platforms to showcase artistic content have multiplied, these court cases are testing the rights of fans, creators, and rivals to reinterpret other people’s intellectual property.

At issue, particularly in social media or new technology, is exactly how much you have to transform something to profit and get credit for it, literally, to make it your business.

Three weeks ago, in a first-of-its-kind case, a jury in an Illinois federal court ruled that tattoo artist Catherine Alexander’s copyright was violated when the likeness of her client, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) star Randy Orton, was depicted in a video game.

Alexander has tattooed Orton’s arms from his shoulders to his wrists. She won, but not much: $3,750, because the court ruled that, though her copyright had been violated, her tattoos didn’t impact game profits. Nonetheless, it set a precedent.

The ruling calls into question the abilities of people with tattoos “to control the right to make or license realistic depictions of their own likenesses,” said Aaron J. Moss, a Hollywood litigation attorney specializing in copyright matters. Blame the rise of remix culture. For most of the 20th century, mass content was created and distributed by professionals,” said Moss.

“Individuals were consumers. Legal issues were pretty straightforward. But, now, most of the time, the content is being repurposed, remixed, or repackaged.” Some artists found out their work was used to train AI.

“It’s all new and it’s all a mess,” said Victor Wiener, a fine-art appraiser who’s consulted for Lloyd’s of London and serves as an expert witness in art-valuation court cases.

Over the past several decades, the distinctions between professionals and amateurs, artists and copycats, and between production and consumption have blurred. In such gray areas, said Wiener, “it can come down to who the judge, or the tryer of fact, believes.”

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