Tattooed celebrities are abundant; from Shawn Mendes’s
fan-designed butterfly, to Drake’s “6 God”
praying hands, to the elaborate artwork displayed on the bodies of
professional athletes like basketball star LeBron James (by one
account more than half of all active NBA players have tattoos)
— the list goes on. Whether it’s angels or demons,
expressions of faith, or names of family and friends who’ve
been loved or lost, there’s no doubt a celebrity’s body
art is an integral part of their personal brand, appearance and
public identity.
It may be surprising to some that tattoo art, like other forms
of art, is capable of attracting copyright protection. In Canada
and the U.S., if a tattoo is an original work of art (not copied),
is fixed in any tangible medium (e.g., inked on skin), and is not
in the public domain, then it qualifies for copyright protection.
Although there has been some legal debate as to whether the human
body is considered a “fixed medium” for
