Call for tattoos to have copyright
There’s an unwritten rule in New Zealand – decent tattoo artists don’t copy designs.
With the Copyright Act 1994 under review, artists behind the ink say stricter legislation could protect original tattoo designs.
House of Natives founder Gordon Toi would champion tattoo protection.
‘‘I would like to see some kind of governance over Ma¯ori tattooing and Polynesian tattooing . . . there’s so much exploitation.’’
Original designs were often replicated, often overseas without even talking to the New Zealand artist, he said.
‘‘Skin is probably the hardest thing to copyright, because everyone is copying it.’’
Pacific Tattoo owner Tim Hunt wanted artists to respect the meaning of Ma¯ ori and Pacific cultural patterns and symbols. ‘‘Any artist could say, I can do you a design that has korus and looks Ma¯ ori’’, he said. ‘‘But if you want something authentic, you will have to go somewhere else.’’
If copyright law protected cultural images, Hunt would respect the change.
‘‘I want more tattoo artists to stand up and say: ‘I don’t know enough about it, I don’t know the history behind it, and I don’t know the context behind it’.’’
Overseas, tattoo artists replicated images without a second thought.
Union Tattoo owner Craigy Lee agreed there was an unwritten code of conduct to not copy a custom tattoo. Decent artists would not dare to make money from someone else’s design.