Epic Games might be doing a temporary victory dance this week. Why? Because the numerous lawsuits against the company over the Fortnite dances have gone away. This could just be a matter of delaying the inevitable, but for now the company is in the clear and the people suing over different dances have backed off.
It all started when Terrence “2 Milly” Ferguson sued Epic Games for having the Milly Rock dance in Fortnite as The Swipe dance. Then, Alfonso “Carlton” Ribeiro sued for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air dance being in the game as the Fresh dance. Soon, everyone started suing . But then, Ribeiro experienced a major downfall. When attempting to copyright the Carlton dance to strengthen his lawsuit’s claims, the US Copyright Office denied it . The government both questioned if Ribeiro had a rightful claim to it or if the brief dance could be even protected. Ribeiro then dropped his lawsuit.
Now, all of the other plaintiffs suing Epic over Fortnite dances have dropped their lawsuits. 2 Milly, Ribeiro, Backpack Kid, and Orange Shirt Kid are all represented by Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht, and all four have pulled back. This does not mean that these people are giving up, but it does mean that a tactical retreat is necessary to regroup and perhaps find more corroborating evidence to prove Epic stole from them and might owe them money.
We’ll have to wait and see if these Fortnite lawsuits reappear. Not being able to get a copyright is quite a blow. Also, in the case of Backpack Kid and Orange Shirt Kid, their brief dances are more memes than anything else, at this point. Given the prevalence of these moves and how many different media properties use them, this could very well be the end of the line for these suits.
Source: GameSpot