Sports Celebration Moves

You see them weekly during National Football League games. Terrell Owens performs them. Chad Johnson shows his off weekly. Even Steve Young got into the act occasionally during his time in the League. Sports celebration moves are now a fixture to the NFL product. The moves are not a part of the game without controversy however. Moves like the old-school Ickey Shuffle, the Dirty Bird and Terrell Owen’s Eagle flap, are as appreciated by some as they are loathed by others.

Whatever your opinion of these moves, there can be little doubt that the moves bring fame to those who perform them. In today’s media-hyped world, in which the big play followed by a clever celebration dance may be aired hundreds of times in a 24 hour period, the attention brought to players via sports celebration moves results in wide-recognition and thus market power to those who perform them.

These moves are valuable. Any professional athlete, especially a professional football player, has a limited career-span during which he can capitalize financially through his performance on the field, the court, or the rink. These moves, most often performed after an athlete completes a big play to help his team, draw attention to an athlete’s athletic prowess on the field, increasing his marketability and thus his ability to earn money from endorsements and apparel contracts.

To protect the players’ rights in these moves, which carry such a potentially great value, the player should have his move copyrighted. But are these moves eligible for copyright protection? What characteristics must a move have to be copyrightable? Should these moves be protected? What happens when a player performs another player’s copyrighted move?