Hey! Brandon Swartz of Inflictions in Covina, California, you owe Tim Kern (and Amina Munster) a serious apology. If this was 1989, your shop would be burned to the ground. Lucky for you, it’s 2005, and all you’ve lost is the respect of your peers.
 Original by Tim Kern |
 Copy by Brandon Swartz |
Seriously, taking someone’s custom tattoo and copying it isn’t a compliment. It’s theft and abuse of something really personal, a kind of emotional rape that’s utterly unacceptable. Not cool at all.
Previously: Pirate Tattoos
Comments
66 responses to “Tattoo Plagiarism”
I bet the first guy to get a spiderweb on his elbow is pretty pissed at the tattoo world right now, same for the first guy/girl to get stars on her hipbones/shoulders
I bet the first guy to get a spiderweb on his elbow is pretty pissed at the tattoo world right now, same for the first guy/girl to get stars on her hipbones/shoulders
Honestly, I like the “copied” version better..
Honestly, I like the “copied” version better..
Tattoo Plagiarism- it is evil
Tattoo Plagiarism- it is evil
I will never understand the thing with this post..
So after the first girl (by first I mean the girl in a long line of the same design on her chest) got the tattoo, no one else should be able to get a skull, swords, blood, and the text “dead men tell no tales” on their chest becous then it’s copying? I mean come on, pirates are popular, there are probleby atleast 50 people in the world with a pretty exact replica of that tattoo.
I will never understand the thing with this post..
So after the first girl (by first I mean the girl in a long line of the same design on her chest) got the tattoo, no one else should be able to get a skull, swords, blood, and the text “dead men tell no tales” on their chest becous then it’s copying? I mean come on, pirates are popular, there are probleby atleast 50 people in the world with a pretty exact replica of that tattoo.
patrik your an idoit cba 2 explain y ether but if u want a tim kern tattoo get tattooed by tim kern
patrik your an idoit cba 2 explain y ether but if u want a tim kern tattoo get tattooed by tim kern
If people didnt rip other people’s work off, music today wouldn’t exist.
It makes the world go round. It’s different enough.
If people didnt rip other people’s work off, music today wouldn’t exist.
It makes the world go round. It’s different enough.
People are seriously over-reacting….first of all, it’s not exactly a very original design–a pirate skull with pirate swords and a pirate quote? I’m sure she’s not the first. Secondly, he did change the imagery. Stop giving the artist so much crap about being “talentless” and a “slimeball”–as a tattoo artist myself, I can’t count how many times people have come in wanting the exact same stupid tattoo that they found on the internet, and you DO IT because it’s what the customer wants. Of course you can change it up a bit, but ultimately this falls back on the client, not the artist.
Girl, why don’t you just be flattered that someone loved your concept enough to want it on their own body? Get over yourself. If you put something on the Internet, guess what? Millions of people are going to see it and do whatever they want with it. Do you really think a copyright’s going to stop anyone?
People are seriously over-reacting….first of all, it’s not exactly a very original design–a pirate skull with pirate swords and a pirate quote? I’m sure she’s not the first. Secondly, he did change the imagery. Stop giving the artist so much crap about being “talentless” and a “slimeball”–as a tattoo artist myself, I can’t count how many times people have come in wanting the exact same stupid tattoo that they found on the internet, and you DO IT because it’s what the customer wants. Of course you can change it up a bit, but ultimately this falls back on the client, not the artist.
Girl, why don’t you just be flattered that someone loved your concept enough to want it on their own body? Get over yourself. If you put something on the Internet, guess what? Millions of people are going to see it and do whatever they want with it. Do you really think a copyright’s going to stop anyone?
I know this is a very old thread, but I remember hearing about this back when it was fresh, and quite by accident I stumbled upon this blog today, and felt the need to add in a comment. I was 15 in 1989 so I am probably not completely privy to the tattoo shop politics of that time, and I certainly could not give you an accurate number on how many shops burned that year… but I do remember a few things about 1989: #1 chicks were not taken seriously as tattoo artists and you could probably have counted the total number of serious female tattooers on one hand. I highly doubt that any of the shops that burned that year, were over some chick getting her panties in a wad over a Pirate tattoo. #2 Someone could be fired from their job if their employer just suspected that they were gay #3 those people that OJ Simpson killed were still alive… Ok, heavy, untreated ADHD caused me to lose track of my original thought. My point is that Harkening back to the “good ole days” of 1989 seems far fetched, at the very least. I also read a follow up to this blog where Amina is quoted as saying that Brandon called her and “tried to flatter her” by admitting that Tim Kern is a better artist than he is. With all due respect to Ms. Munster, that sounds like he was trying to flatter Tim Kern. Nobody cares about your bunched up panties, and your peg leg doesn’t give you ownership of pirate slogans. This shit is between Tim and Brandon (and back in 1989 you would not have mattered – and still don’t in my opinion, in terms of who may have stolen something). Back in 1989 Tim’s boss would have talked to Brandon’s boss, then Brandon and Tim would either been pissed at each other, or they would have squashed it. in 1989 you don’t even get a phone call from Brandon, and the fact that he even did this in 2006 or whenever this shit happened, shows that he has character.
I know this is a very old thread, but I remember hearing about this back when it was fresh, and quite by accident I stumbled upon this blog today, and felt the need to add in a comment. I was 15 in 1989 so I am probably not completely privy to the tattoo shop politics of that time, and I certainly could not give you an accurate number on how many shops burned that year… but I do remember a few things about 1989: #1 chicks were not taken seriously as tattoo artists and you could probably have counted the total number of serious female tattooers on one hand. I highly doubt that any of the shops that burned that year, were over some chick getting her panties in a wad over a Pirate tattoo. #2 Someone could be fired from their job if their employer just suspected that they were gay #3 those people that OJ Simpson killed were still alive… Ok, heavy, untreated ADHD caused me to lose track of my original thought. My point is that Harkening back to the “good ole days” of 1989 seems far fetched, at the very least. I also read a follow up to this blog where Amina is quoted as saying that Brandon called her and “tried to flatter her” by admitting that Tim Kern is a better artist than he is. With all due respect to Ms. Munster, that sounds like he was trying to flatter Tim Kern. Nobody cares about your bunched up panties, and your peg leg doesn’t give you ownership of pirate slogans. This shit is between Tim and Brandon (and back in 1989 you would not have mattered – and still don’t in my opinion, in terms of who may have stolen something). Back in 1989 Tim’s boss would have talked to Brandon’s boss, then Brandon and Tim would either been pissed at each other, or they would have squashed it. in 1989 you don’t even get a phone call from Brandon, and the fact that he even did this in 2006 or whenever this shit happened, shows that he has character.