Epic Games faces a new lawsuit following a copyright infringement case filed by Kyle Hanagami, a choreographer who popularized the stolen dance move used in the "Fortnite" dance emote.
How the Epic Lawsuit Started
Epic Games is currently facing a new copyright lawsuit from a choreographer who accused it of stealing his dance move.
According to IGN, in 2017, the choreographer posted a video of him making a particular dance move, which became popular later. Kyle, the man on the viral clip, accused Epic of using his exact maneuver in the "Fortnite: It's Complicated" dance emote.
He added that the "Fortnite" developer has copyrighted what he did during the choreography session. With that, he filed a lawsuit against the company in the Central District of California, Kotaku wrote in its report.
The lawsuit states that Epic did not give any credit to Hanagmi for using, selling, creating, or reproducing his own work of art based on the "Registered Choreography."
To back up Hanagami's accusations, his lawyers released a clip that shows the obvious similarities in the movements of the real-life dancers and "Fortnite" characters.
At the moment, the controversial dance emote is available for 500 V-Bucks at the Fortnite Item Shop. Hanagami also raised concerns about Epic profiting from his copyrighted move without tapping him for consent.
As such, Epic Games is instructed to take down the in-game emote, as the lawsuit states. All of the profits that the company has collected from it will go to Hanagami.
"[Hanagami] felt compelled to file suit to stand up for the many choreographers whose work is similarly misappropriated. Copyright law protects choreography just as it does for other forms of artistic expression. Epic should respect that fact and pay to license the artistic creations of others before selling them," lawyer David Hecht said in a statement, per Gamespot.
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Epic Games Not a Stranger to Lawsuits
If you're wondering if this is the first time Epic bumped into a lawsuit, that is wrong. Gamespot reported that the video game firm had been involved in previous lawsuits, including Alfonso Ribeiro's complaint about his Fresh emote copyright.
Furthermore, that's not all of it. "Orange Shirt Kid," Backpack Kid, and rapper 2 Milly also sued the "Fortnite" creator because of its dance emotes. However, the charges were all dropped later because of "procedural" reasons.
Meanwhile, GameNGuide reported that a new set of Rick and Morty skin bundles are coming to "Rainbow Six Siege" soon. This time, the DLC packages were intended for Doc and Fuze.
You can buy each of them for just 2,160 R6 credits. If you want to save more bucks by purchasing both of them, you need to spend 4,080 R6 credits for 240 R6 credits savings.
Fuze will be getting a Morty Bundle, while Doc is expected to sport a new Rick Sanchez skin. For fans, these are all major additions to the game.
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This article is owned by GameNGuide
Written by Joseph Henry
