YouTuber Files Lawsuit Against Epic Games Over Allegedly Stolen Dance Emote
Fortnite is a video game juggernaut and a cultural phenomenon for a number of reasons. The crossovers with movies and artists, the in-game concerts, and the various other elements of pop culture that have made it into the game. Even Fortnite's emotes have a huge part to play in its popularity as the game adopts gestures and dance moves that have become famous, or been famous in the past, and raises them up to an entirely new level.
Fortnite's adoption of dance moves that were perhaps made famous elsewhere has landed Epic in hot water in the past. It's been a while since a lawsuit was filed against the studio for a Fortnite dance move, but that has now changed thanks to a claim made by Kyle Hanagami reports Gamesindustry.biz. The YouTuber claims Epic has been using a dance move they created in Fortnite since 2020, and this lawsuit rings a little different from the ones that have come before.
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The disputed dance move is Fortnite's It's Complicated emote, and while it has been in-game since 2020, Hanagami claims they have been using it since 2017. The choreographer claims Fortnite has turned the move into an emote without permission. The reason this allegation differs from the others made against Epic in the past is Hanagami claims to have copyrighted the dance move and owns the rights to it.
Other people to have filed similar lawsuits against Epic in the past include Alfonso Ribeiro of Fresh Prince fame and Instagram influencer Backpack Kid. All previous suits alleging Epic stole dance moves and repurposed them for Fortnite emotes have been dismissed since it was ruled those claiming to have created them didn't own the rights. Hanagami
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