Tattoo artist Catherine Alexander will finally get her day in court after years of waiting when she brought forward a lawsuit against WWE, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., 2K Games, Inc., 2K Sports, Inc., Visual Concepts Entertainment, Yuke’s Co., Ltd., and Yuke’s LA Inc.
The trial has been delayed numerous times. However, the lawsuit will go before The US District Court Southern District of Illinois on September 26th. According to court documents obtained by PWinsider.com, the lawsuit will have its final pre-trial hearing this Monday.
The lawsuit was slated for trial this past January but was postponed because of a surge of cases of the omicron coronavirus pandemic in this district.
Alexander stated in the lawsuit she performed the tattoo work on Randy Orton between 2003 and 2008. She thinks they “are easily recognized by his fans and members of the public.” WWE originally used her work for faux sleeves and was later portrayed in a video game, and she believes she should receive money from those consumer products.
Alexander alleged she contacted WWE in 2009, and the company offered her a $450 fee for the rights to the designs. She turned down an offer from WWE. The legal team for Alexander stated she “did not grant any permission to WWE to copy, duplicate or otherwise use or reproduce any of Plaintiff’s designs.”
The ruling of this case is an important one as the court will decide whether the defendants had the right to use the work in the game as a copyright fair use or if Alexander has grounds to receive money for her work being used. If the court sides with Alexander, it would allow other tattoo artists to receive royalties for their artwork in other video games.
