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Prominent Cleveland-based tattoo artist James Hayden, who has worked with several NBA stars including LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Tristan Thompson is suing 2K games for using his art without permission in the NBA 2K series of games.
Via TMZ
In his suit, obtained by TMZ Sports, Hayden claims he owns the copyright to Bron’s famous “Gloria” tattoo as well as his “Lion Design” and LJ’s shoulder stars.
Complex spoke with Hayden about why he decided to sue 2k games and here was his response.
Via Complex
“I’ve worked with LeBron and a lot of different athletes throughout my years as a tattoo artist. I’ve been doing about this 20 years now. Those are my dudes,” the 42-year-old told Complex. “There’s levels to it, how these games are using images…they’re kinda overstepping a lot of boundaries. It’s our work.”
He went on: “They’re almost like stealing in a way, taking your art and just saying, ‘Hey, this is ours now, we are going to do what we want to do with it,’ regardless of who you are and what you’re doing.”
It’s unclear whether Hayden has a case but if NBA 2K loses in court they could owe a lot of tattoo artists money.