Yesterday was the inaugural draft for the NBA 2K League, an important milestone in a traditional sports league’s first major push into a parallel esports world. The new league offers fans the experience of watching the best NBA 2K players in the world manipulate (digitally speaking) the best basketball players in the world in a video game with graphics so realistic, it’s almost like you’re watching the players themselves.
It’s an aspect of that realism that is at issue in a lawsuit filed against the makers of NBA 2K by Solid Oak Sketches, the owner of the copyrights in the designs behind many of the more prominent tattoos seen on players’ bodies during games, including those that adorn LeBron James and Kenyon Martin.