Tattoos (or “body art”) can be copyrighted. Black’s Law Dictionary defines a copyright as
“the right of literary property as recognized and sanctioned by positive law.” According to the
course text, copyright protection is an intangible right granted by the Copyright Act of 1976 (a
federal statute) to the author or originator of an original literary or artistic production, whereby
the artist is invested, for a specified period, with the sole and exclusive privilege of multiplying
copies of the work and with the right to profit from its publication and sale.
The Copyright Act allows creators to obtain a copyright by having an “original work of
authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, not known or later developed, from
which it can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid
of a machine or device.”
