Alfonso Ribeiro Sues Epic Games

[Guest]

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star sues Fortnite creators for allegedly stealing 'Carlton Dance'

Source: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2018/12/fresh-prince-of-bel-air-s-star-sues-fortnite-creators-for-stealing-carlton-dance.html?fbclid=IwAR17NFCYxQctBiADihVcs85gATRPiUki6prilQKfeoPCDWIfxjoBMbR5xwA

 

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Alfonso Ribeiro, who played Carlton Banks in the '90s sitcom The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, is reportedly suing the creators of Fortnite for stealing his dance.

'The Carlton Dance' was a trademark of Ribeiro's iconic character, and he's now claiming the 'Fresh' emote in Fortnite is an exact replica of his well-known moves.

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TMZ reports that Ribeiro has filed a suit against Epic Games, who publish the wildly popular multi-player video game, claiming he's in the process of copyrighting the dance.

"It is widely recognised that Mr Ribeiro's likeness and intellectual property have been misappropriated by Epic Games in the most popular video game currently in the world, Fortnite," Ribeiro's lawyer David Hecht reportedly told TMZ.

"Epic has earned record profits off of downloadable content in the game, including emotes like 'Fresh'," he said.

"Yet Epic has failed to compensate or even ask permission from Mr Ribeiro for the use of his likeness and iconic intellectual property."

Earlier this month, rapper 2 Milly launched nearly identical legal action against the game, claiming the 'Swipe It' emote rips off the Milly Rock dance he invented.

He certainly has a case for it, although if its not copyrighted I don't know how he can win unfortunately - its probably protected as a copyright owned by the makers of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air however, it would be in the script. Epic Games should have asked for his consent - and it might as well have been approved, it is in Team Fortress 2 by Valve and is acknowledged in the game to be from Alfonso. 

[givingtnt]

[mxk]

so America's Funniest Home Video's isn't making him enough? I'll be honest filling Tom Bergeron's shoes is probably very tough.

[PlayStation 2]

Uncle Phil's death really sent him off the deep end.

[Taf the Ghost]

For as many different ways this can be viewed, the reality is that Mr. Ribeiro does have IP attached to the dance, for good or for ill. He actually has a duty to defend that image or he loses any future control over it. This'll get settled for some amount of money.

[RejZoR]

If he trademarked it, he has every right to sue Epic. It's how it is.

[Fnige]

*Puts moonwalk into game

*Gets sued by michael jackson

[asus killer]

internet drama #part 2

[Fnige]

5 minutes ago, VegetableStu said:

*Puts Gangnam style chorus dance into game

*Gets mother-fathered by the old butlers in the gentlemen song

*Puts turks dance into game

*Gets sueued by the makers of Scrubs

[PlayStation 2]

Oh by the way, why not sue Valve for incorporating a community-made taunt based off of the Carlton in TF2?

 

[PlayStation 2]

Just now, VegetableStu said:

oh dang, it was in Loadout too o_o

yeah well loadout is dead and always was lul
looks like dude's got a lot of people to sue

[w1nger1]

Is all because Fortnite is printing money and he just sees it as a opportunity to make some out of it.

[williamcll]

2 hours ago, handymanshandle said:

Oh by the way, why not sue Valve for incorporating a community-made taunt based off of the Carlton in TF2?

 

maybe it's not as popular.

[RuffRuffmcgruff]

40 minutes ago, williamcll said:

maybe it's not as popular.

^This, I'm 100% behind him, Alfonso, a step toward ridding the world of the cancer that is BR is a step in the right direction

[Canada EH]

5 hours ago, RorzNZ said:

stealing 'Carlton Dance'

Does he have the dance patented or copyrighted or trademarked?

[Okjoek]

One of these days we'll be getting sued for using the oxygen in the air because some clown said "first". This system is such horseshit.

 

 

[Taf the Ghost]

6 minutes ago, Okjoek said:

One of these days we'll be getting sued for using the oxygen in the air because some clown said "first". This system is such horseshit.

 

 

Copyright and Trademark are core systems for a functioning modern economy. It's working fine in this situation.

1 hour ago, Canada EH said:

Does he have the dance patented or copyrighted or trademarked?

He apparently has some trademarks around it? It's a messy legal area, to my understanding, so there's a massive "it depends" to everything about it. But he has enough of a position to make Epic want to settle the matter fairly quickly.

[Brooksie359]

8 minutes ago, Taf the Ghost said:

Copyright and Trademark are core systems for a functioning modern economy. It's working fine in this situation.

He apparently has some trademarks around it? It's a messy legal area, to my understanding, so there's a massive "it depends" to everything about it. But he has enough of a position to make Epic want to settle the matter fairly quickly.

Honestly I think is rediculus. I hope he loses the suit because trademarking a dance is actually dumb. 

[Brooksie359]

9 minutes ago, Taf the Ghost said:

Copyright and Trademark are core systems for a functioning modern economy. It's working fine in this situation.

He apparently has some trademarks around it? It's a messy legal area, to my understanding, so there's a massive "it depends" to everything about it. But he has enough of a position to make Epic want to settle the matter fairly quickly.

I mean it would be like if a hockey player trademarked a move they created that way nobody else could use it. Or a skate boarder with a trick. Saying you own a dance move is just plain dumb. 

[Taf the Ghost]

2 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

Honestly I think is rediculus. I hope he loses the suit because trademarking a dance is actually dumb. 

It's not a dance. It's named after a role he's iconic for and can be popularly recognized for. "Let's get ready to rumble" is trademarked as well by the guy that made it famous. In an era of Video being as important as Type-face, it's well within the classic understanding of trademark. 

[Taf the Ghost]

4 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

I mean it would be like if a hockey player trademarked a move they created that way nobody else could use it. Or a skate boarder with a trick. Saying you own a dance move is just plain dumb. 

Phrase, slogans and plenty of "word combinations" are all trademarked. Full copies of video are protected copyright. Derivative works is always where things get wonky. The Fair Use (laws) and SCOTUS cases (dealing with USA law here) give wide berth for parody, but that's not really what Epic, or any other game dev, is doing. I'm not saying it's the best idea for a case to be pursued, but Epic will settle this, as there is enough there to make it worrisome going forward.

[markopolomp]

It's not the fact that it's in the game, it's the fact that it's supposedly part of a paid DLC. Epic is making money off of it. And that's illegal if somebody else owns the rights to it. I highly doubt this will go to trial. It'll either be removed, or there will be a settlement

[S w a t s o n]

World of Warcraft also took dances from real people, one dance for each gender of each race. I'd like to see them sue Blizzard, glhf

[Franck]

6 hours ago, SlimyPython said:

*Puts moonwalk into game

*Gets sued by michael jackson

You cannot copyright a move. You can copyright a chaining of moves or a choreography.

 

edit : just found a good link talking about that

http://ericnortonlaw.com/can-i-trademark-it/trademark-a-dance-move/

[Sir Asvald]

6 hours ago, RejZoR said:

If he trademarked it, he has every right to sue Epic. It's how it is.

I guess you could say if he sues them. It'll be EPIC!!

 

Okay I'll go