Kat Von D had direct response to photographer who sued her in first-of-its-kind lawsuit

Former tattoo artist and reality TV star Kat Von D shared a direct response to the photographer who sued her in a first-of-its-kind case.

The artist-turned-musician found religion and was officially baptised in 2023 and started blacking out all of her tattoos on her body, and stepped away from tattooing.

She faced a lawsuit for copyright infringement, and eventually won the case after a stressful 'two years of a nightmare worrying’.

The tattooist had been accused of violating the intellectual property rights of Jeffrey Sedlik.

Von D, real name Katherine Von Drachenberg, was sued in 2021, after a photographer alleged she stole an image he took to use for a portrait tattoo.

The snapper said that a tattoo of the famous musician, Miles Davis, which Von D did for a friend was a direct copy of a portrait he took in 1989 and had copyrighted.

The tattooing process saw Von D tracing the photograph to create a stencil, but then used extensive freehand shading to make the rest of the picture her own.

After years spent in limbo 'worrying' about the verdict, the jury ruled unanimously that the tattoo did not violate copyright law.

Sedlik's lawyer said they were ‘very disappointed' with the result but it was later affirmed by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in January 2026.

In a video post on Instagram, Von D shared her thanks to the musician's son and his family for supporting her during a difficult time, and for 'knowing how ridiculous this lawsuit was.’

She said: “I think I’m still a little bit traumatised by the entire experience. I have never been sued my entire life, I’ve never sued anybody – even though I’m sure I definitely have had reason to – but I wouldn’t wish this upon my worst enemy.”

The artist called it an ‘extremely painful process’ and said she had tried to avoid discussing it as it wasn't 'fun'.

“I really didn’t talk about this publicly because it’s not something you want to bring your followers along with," she said.

“It’s hard to make this video, because honestly, you know if you don’t have anything nice to say about somebody, just don’t say anything at all.”

"I hope this trial sheds light on Miles Davis' epic legacy, because I know he would have loved Blake's tattoo and hated that this lawsuit even took place," she added.

She avoided mentioning the photographer's name, but insisted: “I truly believe that he saw this as an opportunity to gain publicity and to gain a lot of money, and unfortunately for him, it’s backfired.”

Von D also said it would have been easy and ignore it but wanted to fight as it would be ‘so awful for not just tattooers, but artists across the board.’

She hoped that other tattoo artists wouldn't be ‘discouraged’ by the lawsuit as she would hate for it to ‘kill the spirit of the creative process.’

The star signed off by saying: “Sending you all lots of love, especially the photographer that was suing me."