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What's the story?
Randy Orton is an iconic superstar in many ways and has an incredibly recognizable look, including the tattoos that he's covered in.
However, those tattoos could now land the WWE in some hot water, as a lawsuit between Orton's tattoo artist and the WWE (as well as 2K Games) could be going forward.
In case you didn't know...
Catherine Alexander, the tattoo artist who worked on Randy Orton's ink between 2003 and 2009, filed a lawsuit against the WWE and 2K Games back in April. The lawsuit also targeted Take-Two Interactive Software, Visual Concepts Entertainment, Yuke's Co. and Yuke's LA.
Alexander claimed that her tattoo work are her original designs, and she never gave permission to the defendants to recreate them in any WWE video games.
The heart of the matter
PWInsider reported that the WWE and 2K attempted to have the case dismissed on August 7, claiming that the court does not have jurisdiction over them.
Alexander's response said that the court does indeed have personal jurisdiction over each entity for different reasons, including attempting to pay her $450 for the rights to her work, which she declined.
Alexander's response included six copyright applications regarding her designs that were tattooed on Orton.
Furthermore, the court gave a deadline for all discovery regarding this case, January 7, 2019. A settlement conference will begin on April 16, 2019.
What's next?
The WWE and 2K games have several months to bring a defense together.
The fact that the WWE did offer to buy the rights to the work does put them in a tough spot, and they could find themselves having to pay Catherine Alexander quite a bit over this whole issue.
Do you think the WWE owes Catherine Alexander compensation for the use of her work in various video games and toys? Let us know in the comments.
