Discussion

1. BODY ART/TATTOOS (100 words min.) 

Check out Mike Tyson's famous "face tattoo" pictured below. Do you have a tattoo? (Feel free to upload a picture of your tattoo.) Either way, what is the most memorable tattoo or work of "body art" that you have seen?

2. COPYRIGHTS IN TATTOOS  (200 words min.) 

Can you own or otherwise copyright a tattoo? Explain. Background Info   

https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html 

https://priorprobability.com/2014/09/21/tattoos-signals-and-property-rights/

3. ALLOCATION OF PROPERTY RIGHTS IN TATTOOS (200 words min.) 

Let's assume for the sake of argument that tattoos can be copyrighted. In the absence of an agreement between the tattoo artist and the patron (the person getting the tattoo), who should own the legal rights to the tattoo: the tattoo artist or the person getting the tattoo? Explain.

Hint: There is no right answer; the Professor just wants your well-reasoned opinions for parts 2 and 3 of this discussion post. (For an extended discussion on the law and economics of property rights, check out pp. 8-11 of the Professor's paper on "The Law & Economics of Literary Fan Art (Links to an external site.)" or pp. 65-73 of the Professor's paper on "Clones and the Coase Theorem (Links to an external site.).") 

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1452423

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1991411