Das Recht am eigenen Bild von Sportlern

Successful athletes are popular personalities. There is a great public interest regarding their personality and their images. Technological developments have had an enormous impact on the entire sports sector and have led to a strong increase in commercialization. This can be seen not only in the high profits by the exploitation of competitions, but also in the extensive reporting about the athletes and their lives. This extensive reporting is made possible by the continuous observation of the athletes, but also by the disclosure of information by the athletes themselves. As a result, there are increasing conflicts between the athletes’ image rights and the public interest in it. The Art Copyright Act with its legal regulations and their interpretation constitutes the decisive basis for the resolution of these conflicts. The present thesis deals with the legal classification of the diverging interests and the treatment of the conflict of interests, taking into account the special features of the sports industry.