Multimedia Essay: The Art, The Artist and the Athlete: How Tattoos Are Complicating the Copyright and Video Game Industry

This topic is personally relevant because in my hopeful career path in media relations for professional sports, I would presumably be responsible for responding to requests for use of player likenesses in magazines, newspapers, TV appearances, and video games. Having a deeper understanding of how copyright and intellectual property law work and how it affects professional sports would be beneficial to me so I can build those relationships while possessing a knowledge of the limitations and acceptable practices of the law...I will be producing assenting and dissenting arguments centered on the question, 'Should athletes be free to grant permission of use of their likenesses, including tattoos, to publications?' Essentially, should athletes own the artwork that is on their body? The key word here is 'should,' because, as stated in The New York Times article, legally the art belongs to the artist. But should it?