Ninth Circuit Raises Doubts About Kat Von D Tattoo Copyright Win

A Ninth Circuit panel appeared willing to undo a jury verdict that found artist Kat Von D’s tattoo made partly by tracing a photo of Miles Davis wasn’t similar enough to constitute copyright infringement.

Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw said she was “struggling” to understand how the jury found the photo and tattoo weren’t substantially similar. “It kind of defies rationality to suggest that it’s not the same photograph,” she said, because “it is the same photograph, it’s on a different medium.”

Kat Von D’s counsel, Allen Grodsky of Leech Tishman Nelson Hardiman, pushed back, saying his client used the photo ...