Investor bought license to Kobe and LeBron tattoos, to merchandise them

Well, this has the potential to start a legal mess and a lot of public debate.

Matt Siegler, an account manager at a business advisory firm, has an entrepreneurial mind. Siegler has been seeking out tattoo artists and purchasing exclusive license to their designs with the intent to put the tattoos of famous athletes on merchandise.

Among the tattoos he's purchased the license to are LeBron James' Chosen 1 and Witness tattoos as well as a Kobe Bryant tattoo. The agreement is an, "exclusive license agreement granting to Siegler an exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable and fully sublicensable right in and to the artwork."

Currently, tattoo artists own copyright over their designs but can sell the copyrights. The situation is such that the NFL has aggressively pushed its athletes to purchase the copyrights to their tattoos.

It's not hard to see how this matter would get complicated: tattoo artists designed the tattoos but the tattoo is then a part of the person wearing it. If Siegler can use a tattoo that is obviously James' tattoo and profit from it, it won't be long before the league and players move to reclaim those profits.

The solution could be as simple as players purchasing the copyright right when they get the tattoo, but that doesn't solve the issue for the thousands of athlete tattoos already in existence.