A tattoo company has taken their issues to the court over NBA 2K’s alleged copyright infringement by featuring NBA players, including Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, and their body inks on the game without the permission of Solid Oak Sketches, the plaintiff in this case.
According to Eriq Gardner of the Hollywood Reporter, the four-time NBA MVP has given a declaration on Friday to a New York federal court, stating that this is the first time that a tattooing company or a tattooist has ever tried to raise such an issue over intellectual property rights in a video game.
“In the fifteen years since I've been playing professional basketball, this case is the first time that anyone has suggested to me that I can't license my likeness without getting the permission of the tattooists who inked my tattoos. No tattooist has ever told me I needed their permission to be shown with my tattoos, even when it was clear I was a public basketball player.”
Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of the NBA 2K video game, is arguing that should Solid Oak succeed in the lawsuit, it would serve as a problematic precedent in the entertainment business, according to the software company (h/t Gardner).
“If Take-Two’s motion is denied, Solid Oak will be able to use that decision to shakedown each of the publications and television programs in which those players have appeared, as well as any other video game publisher that depicts the Tattoos”
Amidst this legal saga, the NBA 2K19 is still on track to be released on Sep. 11.
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