The creator of the renowned tattoos on professional wrestler Randy Orton has prevailed in a legal battle with the maker of the wildly popular WWE 2K computer games.
Take-Two Interactive allegedly violated Catherine Alexander’s rights by using her designs.
The 14-time champion’s body bears five tattoos that were the focus of her complaint.
She received $3,750 (£3,300) in damages from a US jury after they determined she was entitled to compensation.
Five tattoos, including tribal patterns, skulls, a biblical verse, and a dove and rose, were allegedly created by Catherine Alexander, according to the complaint, which was initially filed in 2018.
They were produced between 2003 and 2008, according to court filings, and “clearly recognized by [Orton’s] admirers and members of the public.”
She stated that WWE approached her and offered to pay $450 (£395) to utilize a design of hers in its products, but she declined.
She “did not grant any authority to WWE to copy, duplicate, or otherwise use or reproduce any of the plaintiff’s designs” after that, the court was informed.
Take-Two claimed that fair use laws protected tattoos, allowing them to accurately portray Orton in video games.
According to the court that presided over the case, “authenticity” was a vital component of the games, and “WWE would have rejected Orton’s videogame character if it appeared without his tattoos or with tattoos that were different from Randy Orton’s actual tattoos.”
This is not the first time a video game publisher has been sued for using a celebrity’s tattoos without their consent.
In 2016, artists unsuccessfully sued Take-Two for utilizing tattoos of basketball player LeBron James in the NBA 2K games.
“I always assumed that I had the right to license what I look like to other people for various items, television appearances, and other forms of creative endeavors, like video games,” LeBron remarked at the time.
Following several allegations of wrongdoing, WWE CEO Vince McMahon announced earlier this year that he was leaving the organization.
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