Niamh Spence
Kat Von D has chosen to cover up her tattoos in a big way after she faces a legal case for copyright infringement - a landmark case that is believed to be the first of its kind.
The star is currently being accused of infringing copyright and violating the intellectual property rights of a photographer who took the image that Kat Von D's tattoo design is based on.
The artwork - which isn't inked on the artist herself - shows American jazz legend Miles Davis with his fingers on his lips, an image that was captured originally on camera by Jeffrey Sedlik.
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Von D, who drew and tattooed the ink, is undergoing a legal battle for using the image as inspiration for her design.
However, as the case goes to court and becomes the first of its kind to do so, Von D has not stopped doing what she loves - tattooing and getting tats herself.
Von D, who rose to fame after starring in the reality shows Miami Ink and LA Ink, has now added solid black ink to cover up a couple of tattoos she no longer likes on her back, leaving the part of her body covered in one big solid black tattoo.
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Taking to her Instagram Stories, the former LA Ink star revealed that she'd had the back of her neck and almost the entire top of her back blacked out, telling her 8.9 million followers: "Got so much done today! Thank you so much @hoode215!"
Von D has also blacked out her entire left leg, leaving only one tattoo visible.
The image shows the back of the heavily inked star, as her shoulders, neck and half of her back are covered in the solid black ink. The ink stops halfway down her back, indicating she will return to continue her dark cover up another time.
The artist explained her choices further on another Instagram post, saying: "Before anyone starts criticizing, I encourage you to remember that it’s ok not to like or even understand things.
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"Trust me, I’ve seen plenty of tattoos I personally would never get. And those differences make this world so much more interesting! So no need to comment any negativity."
Von D has been getting the solid black cover ups ever since December 2020, when she first started with inking the whole of her arms.
It's not one solid black tattoo though, as she's chosen to leave some treasured pieces visible - including an image of her father on her forearm amongst others.
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After getting her arm blacked out in 2020, Von D shared an update with her followers as she wrote on her Instagram at the time: "Feels so good to finally cover up so many of the tattoos I got back when I used to drink. Those tattoos meant nothing to me but landmarks in dark times, and I'm so lucky to have the best blackout artist @hoode215 cover them up for me!
"Now my arm looks so nice and clean, and the portrait of my Father stands out even more."
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Addressing the ongoing court case, lawyers for Von D wrote in a filing: "Holding tattoo artists civilly liable for copyright infringement will necessarily expose the clients of these artists to the same civil liability anytime they choose to get tattoos based on copyrighted source material, display their tattooed bodies in public, or share social media posts of their tattoos.
"That is not the law and cannot be the law."
Von D insists that her version of the picture is transformative of the original, and therefore there is no copyright infringement.