Copyright.

The other day the topic of body art came up into a conversation that I was having. While this topic isn't really unusual for me to discuss with people, this time I was thinking about it in a rather different way.

This discussion revolved around a tattoo artist's right to their own work. If an illustrator can draw an image and, if he so chooses, get that image copyrighted, can a tattoo artist do the same? Even though an illustrator works on paper and a tattoo artist works on a body does that matter? Does the canvas make a difference?

Now, I haven't done any research on the topic, so perhaps a tattoo artist can copyright their work. But if they infact can not I think that is ridiculous. Every artist has the right to their own work if that is what they desire. (Yes, I know that last sentence seems to go against my views of 'world property', but not everyone has the weird hippie ideals that I do.)

But even though I do not believe in the idea of personal property I find the whole concept behind the copyright process interesting. So, if the mood strikes I'll do a little research.