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NIU Law’s Yolanda King talks tattoos for Law360

May 5, 2016
Yolanda King

Yolanda King

NIU College of Law Professor Yolanda King, who teaches property law, intellectual property law and entertainment law, recently wrote an opinion piece for Law360 on a pending court trial over copyright infringement.

Licensing company Solid Oak Sketches LLC filed a complaint Feb. 1 of this year against Visual Concepts LLC, 2K Games Inc. and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. for copyright infringement. Solid Oak is the exclusive licensor of tattoos displayed on the bodies of National Basketball Association players who appear in the “NBA 2K16” video game.

“After more than a decade of conjecture, debate and closed-door settlements .. (and ) with much of the copyright world now watching, not to mention those living at the crossroads of the sports and gaming worlds, the courts are about to weigh in — finally,” King wrote.

“If this case proceeds to trial, and Solid Oak succeeds in establishing its tattoos as copyrightable works and enforcing its rights in those works against the defendants, then there will be more tattoo copyright lawsuits to come.”

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