Kat Von D Copyright Win Affirmed in Miles Davis Tattoo Suit (2)

A Ninth Circuit panel upheld celebrity tattoo artist Kat Von D’s copyright win in a photographer’s suit brought over her use of his Miles Davis photograph, though two of the judges called on the circuit court to toss out its own test underpinning that result.

The panel declined to disturb the jury’s finding that Von D’s tattoo and the Davis photograph weren’t substantially similar because that would’ve supplanted jurors’ interpretation with their own, which they said they “cannot do” in a per curiam opinion issued Friday by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Judges Anthony D. Johnstone ...