Fortnite Is ‘Dropping’ Into Legal Land: A Proposal to Amend the Copyright Act to Address Artists’ and Game Developers’ Concerns Over Dance Moves As Purchasable Emotes in Video Games

Abstract

Copyright affords subject matter like choreography exclusive rights. If you own a copyright to a work, you may exclude others from making, selling, distributing, performing, etc., the work. The lawsuits against Epic Games alleging copyright infringement for use of the plaintiffs’ dance moves in “Fortnite” reveal the doctrine’s inadequacy to balance the interests between parties today. Exclusive rights in dance moves is flawed. But there is a sense of unfairness in the Fortnite Lawsuits. A narrowed amendment is necessary to grant non-exclusive rights in an artist’s commercially exploited work not currently subject to copyright protection.

Keywords: intellectual property, copyright, choreography, dance moves, fortnite, video games, emote