Copyrite / Image Law

[Hustle]

I have a tattoo studio and and have a number of artists. Each tattoo that is done we take a picture and put our logo on the image and post it to facebook and our website with credit to the artist and the studio done at.

I have recently had an ex tattoo artist leave and he has requested I remove his work as it is false advertising. I have said That all work done at my studio will remain along with the credit to the artist and the studio performed at.

Could someone inform me of the legalities on this please.

Thank you

[Bambiagain]

Did you draw up a contract when you employed him? It is quite normal for work done in the execution of duties perfomed for an employer to become the property of the employer - ie any designs he created for you when working for you to be yours, unless there was something in the contract stipulating otherwise. If there was no contract, you will probably need to speak to a patent/trade mark attorney, who would have the expertise in this area.

[Ellipsis]

The copyright in the photo is owned by the person who took the photo unless it has been explicitly assigned to someone else. I assume that person is you.

The copyright of the tattoo design itself is another matter and you may not be allowed to reproduce a similar design if you don't own the copyright and the artist does. My understanding, though, is that most designs are copied out of books which presumably either feature rights-free designs or come with a license to use the designs they contain.

But this is not really a question of "copyright", it's a question of "false advertising", i.e. by posting those images on Facebook on a given date, are you "advertising" the fact that a reader could get a similar tattoo done by the same artist at your studio in the future?

Without seeing it I would say that you are probably NOT "advertising" that fact and that you're OK - unless you're somehow explicity stating or implying that fact under the photo, of course. It sounds to me that your Facebook posts are more akin to journalistic records than advertisements.

By the way, I am not a lawyer but do have some experience in copyright, trademark and patent law and social media ... I suspect more than your ex-tattoo artist. If things get pushed any further, though, then you will need to seek proper legal advice if you want to fight it. Until that, I'd just ignore it ...

[boxtops]

Documents which I produce in the course of my job remain the copyright of my employer - would this be the case in the instance you describe?

[tonywiltshire]

This is a very specialised area of law which is covered by the Copyright design & patent act 1988, I would take advise from someone who specialises in copyright law if you believe action is possible, most of the infringements are dealt with as civil procedure with the object of claiming damages.

[ttfn]

^spam - reported