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Carlton... I mean Alfonso Ribeiro is suing Fortnite and NBA 2K over Dance.

Saw on Reddit

https://www.tmz.com/2018/12/17/alfo...epic-games-stealing-carlton-dance/?adid=hero5

Alfonso Ribeiro is the latest celeb who's got beef with Fortnite's pop culture-influenced dances -- and now he's suing the creators of the game for jacking his own.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Alfonso says that Fortnite released a new dance that its characters can perform called the "Fresh emote," which came out on Jan 2, 2018 ... and it's a carbon copy of what he claims he came up with on the '90s sitcom.

He also claims he's in the middle of copyrighting the Carlton dance.

tumblr_ogs5bcHWUc1udh5n8o1_500.gif

Please Don't Sue Me!

Delete if already up
 
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DiscoJer

Member
I think dances have to be a little more involved than that to be copyrighted. Like you could copyright the 15 minuers dances from a musical or ballet. But not just a basic move like that.
 
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spannicus

Member
Shit fortnite is making a ton of money off of these dances. Why not spread love to the folks who made them popular to begin with?
 
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Grinchy

Banned
Shit fortnite is making a ton of money off of these dances. Why not spread love to the folks who made them popular to begin with?
Where is the line drawn? Every game that has referenced anything from pop culture owes some specific person some vague percentage of sales?

When you start actually thinking of the specifics of how this would actually work and what it would mean for movies and games that reference anything, you see how silly it is.
 
So is he going to sue Bungie and Playground Games as well? They both have his dance in their games.
 
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zeorhymer

Member
Did he copyright that when the dance came out? Is he going to copyright it now and retroactively apply that to the lawsuits? There's going to a bunch of serious questions with regards to that.
 
This is absurd. Imagine a hockey goalie trademarking the butterfly stance or a basketball player trademarking a fadeaway jumper. Imagine if pro wrestlers starting trademarking their moves. Imagine the coin Jake Roberts would make if he could sue everyone who did a DDT. If you could trademark a dance move, you bet your ass that somebody would be getting paid every time someone did the moonwalk on stage.

The cynic in me says that Alfonso Ribeiro isn't expecting to win. Rather, he's buying publicity. For the cost of filing a lawsuit, he gets his name in the press for a few days. The "docs obtained by TMZ" were likely provided to TMZ by Alfonso's publicist.
 
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ancelotti

Member
It's weird because he openly acknowledges he took the dance from Bruce Springsteen. Shouldn't he and Eddie Murphy (who also copied the dance on Raw) owe him some kind of royalty if that's where this is going?
 

Lanrutcon

Member
I don't see anything wrong with this.

Get some of that cash money, Carlton. It comes from first world 14 year olds and Lord knows it ain't going to be spent on anything worthwhile.
 

GrayFoxRJ

Banned
In these games, the Carlton bank wasn't a selling point. In fortnite, it was being SOLD as an add-on. That is why it didn't raised his attention beforr
 

Solis

Neophyte
With how much cash Shitnite has been making, don't think they'll be particularly bothered and will most likely settle the matter amicably in court.

It always tickles me whenever Fortnite get prodded in the moneybag.
 

zenspider

Member
The whole Fortnite dance phenomenon is really interesting, as is the opinion here. I'm shocked at how many people are in Epic's corner like this.

The only difference to me between Fortnite and something like Napster is that the music market was realized beforehand: there was a way that writing and composing music was monetized, despite sharing and listening to music always being subject to different standards.

Fortnite single-handed realized this market. Now does that mean they shoupdn't pay the artists who are creating thier product here? And what about the dance studios teaching "Fortnite dances"? Should they be paying Epic?

Did MJ ever do something like this with moonwalking? Legit question.

I mean, he got paid for Moonwalker...
 

Geki-D

Banned
I assume he doesn't own the Fresh Prince show rights? Seeing as it was a part of the show, couldn't the show runners claim they actually own the dance? Also he hasn't already copyrighted it, so was the copyright at least pending when Fortnite put it in the game or was it perfectly fine to use it?
 
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BANGS

Banned
Real scumbag move from Carlton, didn't expect this from him. I expected this from those other degenerates, but not him...
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
But he did not invent the dance tho, it dates back to swing. The show he was on gave him the exposure to make it funny because he is a manlet doing it.

Time for Courtney Cox and Eddie Murphy to sue him I suppose.

“It was never even intended to be funny; it was just that he was dancing,” Ribeiro said. “The dance is ultimately Courteney Cox in the Bruce Springsteen video ‘Dancing in the Dark;’ that’s the basis. Or in Eddie Murphy’s ‘Delirious’ video, The White Man Dance as he called it. And I said, ‘That is the corniest dance on the planet that I know of, so why don’t I do that?'”

http://time.com/4004806/alfonso-ribeiro-explains-carlton-dance/

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-...carlton-dance-from-fresh-prince-10465625.html
 
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