NEW YORK, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Take-Two Interactive Software Inc has been hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit over its depiction of tattoos belonging to National Basketball Association stars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant in a popular video game.
In a complaint filed on Monday in Manhattan federal court, Solid Oak Sketches LLC said Take-Two should pay damages for incorporating eight tattoo designs, which the plaintiff had licensed from various artists, into its NBA 2K16 game.
While "the issue of tattoo copyrightability has yet to be decided upon in court due to numerous settlements," the tattoo artists' works are the kind of "pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works" that deserve legal protection, Solid Oak said.