LOS ANGELES (CN) — Celebrity tattoo artist Kat Von D went on trial Tuesday over claims a picture of Miles Davis she inked on the shoulder of a friend infringed the copyright of the photographer who took the picture of the jazz legend.
Katherine Von Drachenberg, known as Kat Von D from the reality TV shows Miami Ink and LA Ink, created the tattoo based on Jeffrey Sedlik's photo of Davis for free in 2017 for a lighting director who once worked on a film project with her.
Von D — who, according to her lawyer is a full-time mom these days and has stopped creating tattoos for paying clients —maintains that her work wasn't done for money and that her use of Sedlik's photo was fair use, insofar as it was transformative, with tattoo's meaning and purpose being different from the original photo.
"She didn't try to monetize the tattoo in any way," Von D's attorney Allen Grodsky told the jurors in downtown LA in his opening statement. "She hasn't charged clients for a tattoo in over decade — she wants it to be a gift."
Sedlik, a professional photographer who teaches at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, sued Von D in 2021. He testified that he took the photo of Davis, raising his index finger to his lips in a "shush" gesture, in 1989, about two years before his death, for the cover of JAZZIZ magazine that year with the intent to license it for other uses.
Under questioning from his attorney Robert Allen, Sedlik described to the jury the lengthy preparation he went through before taking the photo of Davis at the musician's house in Malibu, including research and free association methods to arrive at the concept he wants to capture in his work.
In the case of Davis, Sedlik said, he wanted to communicate the silence that he believed was part of Davis's music, such as playing quietly, or sometimes with his back turned to the audience to draw them in, and the negative spaces he would leave between the notes.
"This feels like his music to me," Sedlik said, referring to his photograph.
The photographer also testified at length about his concern and work towards copyright protection, including presiding over a nonprofit that sets up standards to communicate rights information between owners and users of copyrighted works. Those standards have been adopted by the Adobe and Google, he said.
Sedlik has licensed the Miles Davis photo for a range of uses, including putting it on ties and for artists to use as a reference, such as in painting. One painter a few years ago obtained a license to use the photo in a deal that could be worth as much as $100,000, he testified.
The photographer also isn't shy about confronting those he finds using his work without a license, according to his testimony.
In one case, he tracked down a tattoo artist who had posted a picture of a tattoo he had done based on the Miles Davis photo. Since this artist only he three social media followers, Sedlik said, and showed contrition for his unlicensed use of the photo, he granted him a retroactive license for free.
Von D, on the other hand, has millions of followers on social media and posted photos of her work on the Davis tattoo for her fans to see. Sedlik now wants to be compensated for those posts as well as for her use of his photo for the tattoo.
The jury will have to decide whether her work counts as "fair use" under copyright law.
Follow @edpettersson
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
