Fortnite developer Epic has spent a lot of time in court defending itself against claims of copyright infringement over dance moves available for purchase in the battle royale game. A US judge has dismissed the latest lawsuit, this time from a professional choreographer, who says the “It’s hard” emote from Fortnite was plagiarized from a dance routine he created for a Charlie Puth song.
Choreographer Kyle Hanagami, who according to NBC News has worked with the likes of Britney Spears and Black Pink, filed a lawsuit in April alleging that the Fortnite “It’s Hard” emote copied moves he created for Charlie Puth’s dance show “Like for a long time”. The video debuted in 2017 and the emote came to Fortnite in 2020.
Hanagami’s lawyer posted a video where the recorded choreography is next to a Fortnite emote and they look very similar. However, US District Judge Steven Wilson did not see this and dismissed the lawsuit on August 24, saying the two works did not have enough creative elements in common for the Fortnite emote to constitute an infringement. .
Fortnite’s use of popular dance moves as paid emotes has been the subject of several lawsuits in recent years, with hip-hop artists Chance the Rapper and 2 Milly, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actor Alfonso Ribeiro and ‘Baby in an Orange Shirt’ attempting to sue Epic for using the dance moves they created and popularized.
Many of these lawsuits were voluntarily dismissed in 2019 after the US Supreme Court ruled that a work must be registered with the US Copyright Office before someone can be sued for copying it.
Source : PC Gamesn
