It seems that anyone who’s got a popular dance to their credit is peeved at Fortnite right now. Following lawsuits filed by rapper 2 Milly and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air star Alfonso Ribeiro, Epic Games’ multiplayer hit now faces legal charges from rapper BlocBoy JB, who noted that his popular “Shoot” dance was stolen by the company.
Videos by ComicBook.com
BlocBoy had talked about potentially suing the company back in December; but this follow-up from TMZ shows that he’s gone ahead with the legal process.
He notes that the company “ripped off” his “Shoot” dance without his permission, re-inputting it into the game under the name of “Hype.” And as you can see below, they’re quite similar.
TMZ said that, based on documents acquired from the suit, BlocBoy considers himself the originator of the dance, and didn’t provide any sort of permission for Epic to utilize it in-game. However, he didn’t have the dance copyrighted before, although he’s apparently working on “locking it down,” according to the outlet.
BlocBoy follows a long line of people unhappy with their dances being stolen with the game. Along with Milly and Ribeiro, others like the Backpack Kid (the creator of “The Floss”) and Scrubs actor Donald Faison have voiced their displeasure with the theft, with some looking into further legal action.
But now comes the real question- are dances copyrighted? Even if there are legal claims indicating that a dance is an original property, is Epic Games required to pay out some kind of settlement for using them in-game? A rep for the company hasn’t really spoken up yet about the matter; and we likely won’t hear anything until these lawsuits actually go to court.
For that matter, we have to wonder if we’ve seen the last of the lawsuits. After all, the game uses a number of popular dances with its emotes; and who knows who else might get ticked off over their moves stolen for use in the game.
Fortnite is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, mobile devices and PC.
Do you think these originators are due money for their dances? Let me know on Twitter at @TheDCD!
(Hat tip to TMZ for the details and video links!)
