by James Shackell, The Guardian, 19 July 2021
Some years ago, journalist James Shackell had a tattoo artist ink a design from a picture he found online after searching for “cool tattoos for men”. He explores the concept of copyright and the problem of original work, relentlessly shared online, losing its link to the artist and the ownership of the design.
“If a tattoo has been copied line for line, that’s really disheartening, but there’s nothing wrong with being inspired. People can show the design to their local tattooist, and either track down the original artist or redraw the concept to make it unique,” says Melbourne tattoo artist Avalon Todaro
Shackell says he doesn’t regret his tattoo, but “I do regret the blatant IP theft that brought it about”.
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