To sustain a copyright act, the plaintiff must include in NBA 2K22 MT their asserts enough proof to show that the defendant copied their job and that the copy is much like the original creation. For a copy to qualify as much under the Copyright Act, the similarities between the works have to be greater than de minimis (i.e. minuscule). 

Judge Swain discovered that the level of replicating in this case fell under the brink of substantial copying. In reaching this decision, Judge Swain used the ordinary observer test, which requires the court to consider whether a lay person would understand the reproduction substantially copied and made use of the plaintiff's copyright protected work.

The court held that no reasonable lay person could conclude that the tattoos featured in the match are substantially-similar to those featured on the bodies of the real players. In supporting that holding, Judge Swain found that the pictures of these tattoos were twisted to a degree and were too modest in scale to issue (a mere 4.4percent to 10.96% of the size of the real things). Not only that, but just three from 400 players showcased in the match had tattoos that were at controversy. For the courtroom, that amount of copying qualified as de minimis as opposed to substantial.

Yet, the court also found that the manufacturer had a non-exclusive implied license to reproduce the tattoos in its NBA 2K video games. An implied license is one in which there is an implication that someone has the authority to reproduce a copyrighted work.

It's generally understood that those who are tattooed like an implied consent from tattooists to permit the tattoos to be shown in people and in photographs or movies that feature the person who's tattooed. The reproductions at issue in this case, however, were not actual images of those athletes. Rather, the tattoos have been found on virtual avatars made by artists who made realistic, but electronic, representations of Cheap 2K22 MT their athletes and their tattoos.