How Difficult Is It To Copyright Dance Moves So They Won’t Be Stolen As Fortnite Emotes?

thegamer.com:

By now, most of us should be familiar with the distinctive choreography of Beyonce’s Single Ladies: the hand waving, the immaculate flick of the wrist, and the gesturing towards the ring finger as Beyonce sings, “If you like it, then you shoulda put a ring on it.” These moves, at least to some extent, were slated to be made available in Fortnite sometime in the near future, according to data miners who discovered these details in public documents from the ‘Epic Versus Apple’ lawsuit. This revelation is probably of no surprise; after all, Epic Games have been appropriating dance moves for use as Fortnite emotes for as long as the battle royale game has existed, fending off several lawsuits in the process. A bigger question, instead, would probably be why Epic Games have yet to release these emotes, given that the dance is one of pop culture’s biggest touchstones.

But if I were to venture a guess? Aside from how Epic Games may risk upsetting the world’s biggest pop star by digitising and making a tidy profit out of the dance sequence, the intricate choreography has actually been copyrighted by JaQuel Knight, the choreographer behind the iconic moves—the first commercial choreographer to do so. At the same time, he has launched a music publishing company, Knight Choreography & Music Publishing, to also help other dancers copyright their dances as well. If Epic Games attempts to replicate these moves as emotes without paying royalty fees, it may find itself in a bit of a pinch.

Related: Fortnite And Warzone Have Copied Apex Legends, So What Could Apex Copy Back?

Of course, issues over crediting dancers, artists and choreographers for their dance moves have been a growing conversation in recent years, and it’s a topic that