Tattoo artists calling for right to have copyright on their work

Tuesday, 22 May 2018

Union Tattoo owner Craigy Lee believes there is already an unwritten code in New Zealand that decent tattoo artists don't copy designs.

There's an unwritten rule in New Zealand - decent tattoo artists don't copy designs.

Right now the Copyright Act 1994 is under review, and artists behind the ink say stricter legislation could protect original tattoo designs.

House of Natives founder Gordon Toi would champion tattoo protection.

Union Tattoo owner Craigy Lee said decent artists would not try to make money from someone else's design, but it happens, Lee said.

'I would like to see some kind of governance over Māori tattooing and Polynesian tattooing … there's so much exploitation.'

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Union Tattoo owner Craigy Lee believes there is already an unwritten code in New Zealand that tattoo artists don't copy designs.

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Original designs were often replicated, often overseas without even talking to the New Zealand artist, he said.

Māori and Pacific cultural patterns deserve respect, artists say.

'Skin is probably the hardest thing to copyright, because everyone is copying it.'

Pacific Tattoo owner Tim Hunt wanted artists to respect the meaning of Māori and Pacific cultural patterns and symbols.

'Any artist could say, I can do you a design that has korus and looks Māori', Hunt said.

'But if you want something authentic, you will have to go somewhere else.'

Overseas, tattoo artists are suing when their designs appear on in the media, like television.

In 2011, the artist of Mike Tyson's Māori-inspired facial tattoo sued Warner Bros over a depiction of similar facial art on a character in The Hangover: Part II.

If copyright law protected cultural images, Hunt would respect the change.

'I want more tattoo artists to stand up and say: 'I don't know enough about it, I don't know the history behind it, and I don't know the context behind it'.'

Overseas, tattoo artists replicate images without a second thought.

New Zealand was different, he said.

'It's kind of an unspoken code in New Zealand that you just don't do that.'

Hunt believed the customer owned the tattoo, not the artist.

Union Tattoo owner Craigy Lee agreed there was an unwritten code of conduct to not copy a custom tattoo.

Decent artists would not dare to make money from someone else's design, he said.

University of Auckland associate professor Alex Sims said technically what is currently occurring in New Zealand is probably copyright infringement - under the banner of artwork.

However Sims cautioned against strict enforcement of copyright laws on tattoos, which could include removal of tattoos, preventing the tattoos appearance in films and advertisements, or requiring the removal of tattoos from social media.

'It would give the copyright owner the power to control images of a person, which would be extremely concerning and just wrong.'