Those 'Fortnite' dance lawsuits look like they're all going to be shot down
The United States Copyright Office has made it pretty clear that people can't sue Fortnite developer Epic Games for creating emotes inspired by dances they've done.
After Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actor Alfonso Ribeiro filed a lawsuit against Epic Games for its use of the iconic Carlton dance, a correspondence with the U.S. Copyright Office that was brought up in court Wednesday shows that the governing body doesn't think the dance is complex enough for him to claim ownership of it, The Hollywood Reporter reported Thursday.
According to the Copyright Office, which detailed its position in an email surfaced in court, "The U.S. Copyright Office may only register a choreographic work if it contains a sufficient amount of choreographic authorship."
The Copyright Office explains that choreography refers to an arrangement of dance movement and patterns and does not necessarily cover individual dance moves or steps, thus its position is that The Carlton can not be registered for copyright.
"The combination of these three dance steps is a simple routine that is not registrable as a choreographic work," the email states.
Not only does this mean that Ribeiro's lawsuits against Epic Games as well as Take-Two for the use of The Carlton in NBA 2K are unlikely to go anywhere, it seems to spell failure for the other lawsuits directed at Epic Games for using other dances done by individuals like 2 Milly and Backpack Kid.
If individual dance moves were able to be copyrighted, nobody would be able to do the Moonwalk or that one disco move where you point your finger up without having to pay up. It's not a very tenable way to approach dance.
