WWE and Take-Two experienced an unexpected loss in court, as a federal jury in Illinois found Catherine Alexander to stand trial for copyright infringement regarding Randy Orton’s tattoo. The lawsuit was filed in 2018, with Alexander saying she owns the copyright to the designs used in Orton’s tattoos in the WWE 2K video games. Alexander has apparently been tattooing Orton since 2003, and today the jury has ruled in favor of Paint and against Take-Two, 2K Games, Visual Concepts Entertainment and WWE (via @copyrightlately). You can find the post related to the ruling below.
WWE, Take-Two, or Orton have all commented on the lawsuit, ruling, or potential appeal, but should any such information be breached, we’ll keep you posted. As of now, it’s also not clear what the ruling will mean for how the tattoo designs will be handled from this point on, as Orton is far from the only star with large-scale tattoo designs in the game.
BREAKING: The jury has found in favor of plaintiff Katherine Alexander and against the accused Take-Two and WWE in the Randy Orton tattoo trial. https://t.co/K1qttzewSO https://t.co/tgE54LN88G
– Aaron Moss (@copyrightlately) September 30, 2022
This could end up affecting future games and character models in a major way, either by removing them or just from changing practices around how they are handled and how to deal with the push about them behind the scenes.
In an earlier report by TMZ Sports, Alexander said she had previously discussed the issue with WWE in 2009, saying the tattoos she designed were used in games. She also stated that she was offered $450 in compensation for the company’s acquisition of the rights to those designs, but she declined the offer.
We’ll have to wait to see how it goes and if this has any impact on WWE 2K23, which is now in development. WWE 2K22 has been a hit after WWE 2K20’s disappointing sales and reception, and it was recently revealed that Take-Two has listed WWE 2K23 as a project in progress.
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