Like a blast from the past, Epic is facing a new Fortnite emote lawsuit

pcgamer.com:

Like a blast from the distant past of 2018, Epic Games is being sued over a Fortnite emote. This time around it's the "It's Complicated" emote, which plaintiff Kyle Hanagami says is an unauthorized copy of the dance he choreographed for Charlie Puth's 2017 song How Long.

Epic faced multiple lawsuits over Fortnite emotes in 2018-19, filed by 2 Milly, Alfonso Ribeiro, and Orange Shirt Kid's mom, among others. In general, they claimed that Epic ripped off distinctive dance moves for use in Fortnite without crediting or paying the people who actually created them. This new lawsuit says the «outcry on social media» driven by those previous actions helped pressure Epic into doing licensing deals with some, but not all, creators—and that Hanagami was not made an offer for the use of his work.

«Epic typically approaches young and/or less sophisticated artists, like those who are catapulted to fame on social media platforms like TikTok, about licensing choreography for pennies on the dollar,» the lawsuit states. «Hanagami, a sophisticated businessman and established choreographer who is aware of the value of his choreography generally and the Registered Choreography specifically, was never approached by Epic about a license.»

Fortnite emote lawsuits came to a sudden halt in 2019 because of a US Supreme Court decision that changed how copyright lawsuits could be filed. Previously, action could be taken as soon as a copyright application had been registered, but the 2019 ruling declared that lawsuits could only be filed after the Copyright Office had either approved or rejected an application, a process that could sometimes take many months.

Attorney David Hecht, who is representing Hanagami in the suit, said that's what makes this