Random: Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air Actor Suing Epic For Adding Carlton Dance Move To Fortnite

Well, it IS iconic to us 90's kids.

@Triforce79 surely yes!

Celebs past their prime doing anything they can to make a quick buck. That’s all it is.

Nowadays, I know him best for replacing Marc Summers in “Unwrapped.”

Didn’t they also take that ”Take on Me” dance from that guy on Vine?

@Triforce79 Why, learning new trivia from fellow NL users is a splendid pastime, indeed. And great avatar!

Suing Fortnite and EA is always a noble act, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Anything for a buck huh. Another note to Studio owns those moves as he did that for them not himself. It could be argued that way and he has no standing to sue.

"Due to the timing of the copyright, he may not actually have a case, as the emote was added to the game on 2nd January 2018 - well before this issue was raised"
Time has nothing to do with it. The copyright laws are written in such a way that it is EPICs responsibility to ensure they are not breaching anyones copyright, and any work are automatically protected. In this case, they will have a hard time saying they accidentally created a move in the likeness of a famous move. And calling it "fresh" confirms it even more.

He might not have a case regardless, but time has nothing to do with it.

@SwitchForce money has never been an issue. It is about control. Why do you think fan games disappear on a regular basis?

Not very bright to deliberately rip something off, name it after the source, and then charge money for specifically that thing.

At least not when you don't have a license agreement, or even asked the creator for permission. Although, throughout video game history, asking for forgiveness rather than permission is absolutely par for the course.

So I can't say I'm surprised or disappointed with EPIC. Their top brass stems from the demoscene on the Amiga, which was pretty much the Wild West of video games.

This is not really a simple case, actually.

If it's iconic, it is a cultural phenomenon. That would make it commonplace and nothing to copyright. Then there's the organisation behind the production of the show. Can they own moves?

I think it's great that epic just adds these. I suspect it's not gonna be something worth writing home about. Frankly, this is more brand damage for him than anything else now.

So I guess he is trying to make a quick buck because he may be running low. Next he'll start asking for compensations from schools cause kids use the move as part of a dance?

If they didn't charge money for the emotes, I'd have laughed this off as celebs being ridiculous (seriously, feeling that you own the rights to a certain dance move is petty and cringeworthy).
But being super greedy and charging $5 for an emote is disgusting.. The only good thing that can come out of this, is if they're not allowed to charge money for them.

It's a dance move. Jesus Christ. Pathetic

Go after Destiny 2 while you’re at it 😂

It’s just plain dumb. Just a has been trying to cash in on the fortnite craze. It happens with every fad.

Nobody is being forced at gunpoint to pay $5 for a emote that has zero effect on gameplay. A fool and his money and all that.

The fact that it's paid and not free makes a huge difference here. If it was free, it would just be a funny nod to Fresh Prince but since it's paid... it definitely feels quite shady to be profiting from an homage to someone else's intellectual property. Also Alfonso appeared on the UK Strictly this year so he's also done that recently after winning Dancing with the Stars a few years ago.

This goes to show copyright has gone way past its intended uses,

Not sure about copyrighting dance moves but Epic could have at least credited the people who "inspired" their dance moves, or emotes or whatever they are called.

To millions who play Fortnite they will credit Epic for these dance moves and that doesn't seem right to me.

Go Carlton, Go Carlton!!

The dance move has been in Destiny for a few years, have they paid him any money?

Then again Epic are on very thin ice selling something that is clearly the creation of somebody else and then naming it after the show it's is from. Video games company's are borderline out of control at the moment from things like this to EA breaking the law to protect its right to expose children to gambling and the extreme monetisation of full price online games and advertising creeping it's way into games.

This whole „sue them for dance" thing is getting out of hand, really. So now people own dances? So if you'd do a dance that somebody did before, you can get sued? Sure, you can argue its not the dance itself, but its that they make money off of it. Well in that case every youtuber who has ever filmed themselves and monetised the video can now get sued.

@mantez It did that years ago. It is also funny to see that NL commenters that usually like copyrights suddenly have become negative in this case.

@SBandy it is called "personality rights" and are most similar to trademarks. I am not a lawyer, so I don't know if it is applicable in this case.

@Vepra Yes, that is true. Blame the copyright system that has gone unchecked for so long.

@Dazzle I mean he’s the host of America’s Funniest Home Videos, I doubt he’s desperate for cash.

These days, even sneezing a certain way would be considered intellectual property.

I don’t understand how this is controversial. That’s incredibly unique choreography ripped move for move, put into a video game, and SOLD. This should overwhelmingly favor Alfonso, or at least be grounds for a cease and desist order.

I’d like to see the numbers. How much does a completely original dance move created by Fortnite devs make in cash compared to dance moves made by Snoop Dogg or Alfonso? Guarantee the two don’t even compare

If it wasn't copyrighted before it was in the game, then he hasn't got much hope to get anything out of Epic.

@IHateTombs Using that logic, you could sue every single youtuber that has performed any dance that has been done first by someone else and then monetised the video. People could sue bassicly everyone if that'd be the case. In my opinion this is just as dumb as it can get.

You'd think after having this already happen before, Epic would just ask. But, I guess they make enough to not really care anyways.

"Yet Epic has failed to compensate or even ask permission from Mr. Ribeiro for the use of his likeness and iconic intellectual property"

Yup, I saw the weirdly dressed pumpkin head, and immediately, the first thing that popped into my mind was: "Oh wow, that looks EXACTLY like Carlton from The Fresh Prince"...

He has a point.
So far, laws regarding dance moves are next to non existent because there wasn't a way to sell those moves.
Now Epic is selling them on their game without asking permission and the law is perplexed and without knowing how to act.
But in the end all this comes to Epic getting profit form something they didn't create, and that's a big no in my book.

I'm all for protecting intellectual property but copyrighting a body movement is a step too far. Imagine a world where you could be sued for moving you limbs in a certain way. That would be crazy.

You need some money???

@Dazzle Yup, welcome to America. Desperate for cash? Sue.

I hope that none of these celebrities win their lawsuits. If one of them manages to set a precedence it would open the floodgates for others to do the same.

This isnt the "carlton dance" it is taken from moves pf eddy Murphy and bruce springsteen. So sue carlton for copying their moves because they where first. Wining baby. Lol

@The-Chosen-one

I was going to say the same thing. The same dance was also in George Michael/Wham! Wake Me up Before You Go. He does not have a case in my opinion

@IHateTombs Well WoW used to be a giant on the gaming market aswell with dances from movies and music videos, yet noone bothered to sue them. Good old times when common sense was still a thing. And these two games aint the only one with dances.Destiny 2 has a carlton dance aswell yet noone sues them. Suing someone over a body movement is just stupid in my book. But thats just my opinion mate.

I’m guessing this is more of a “bad lawyer advice” issue than actual IP compensation issue. It’s not like the man can’t earn money on his own merits.

Can dance moves really be considered protected intellectual property even if they are "iconic"?

He should next sue Sony as the little astrobots do the same dance at the end of a level!!

Then Courtney Cox should sue Carlton for ripping it off of her when she appeared in a Bruce Springsteen video🤦‍♂️

Just... why? There are hundreds of other games with this dance as people have pointed out before.

I dunno, Donald Faison didn't get anything for the much longer and more popular emote... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgd8dwA5EEM

@ThanosReXXX for the use of his likeness

That caught my eye as well. Even before I started reading the article I recalled Michael Jackon's "Thriller" video likeness successfully being sued out of Plants vs. Zombies. But that did look A LOT like the iconic character in the video. This, not so much.

But, he might as well sue, he probably already has a lawyer on call for this sort of thing, might as well ask for $1 per $5 download, worse that can happen is he can lose. Best that can happen, you have a million people looking him up on youtube. So he's basically paying his lawyer for publicity at that point.

And he does have a point, how many people pay $5 b/c it's a move and how many pay $5 b/c it's "his" move? They named it "Fresh", they were daring him to sue them. And he's taking them up on the dare.

If he went after them for a free part of the game even I'd think he was being a jerk, but $5 for what he thinks is his, well, gotta try. If he doesn't sue them, everybody can start charging $5 for "The Carlton" next. Gotta nip this sort of thing in the bud.

They even named it "Fresh"? What's wrong with these people?

I mean they did steal it and are selling it so I don't see how he's bad for suing.

And to think this is coming from people who usually defend Nintendo for attacking free fan games.

@rjejr Well, if the likeness thing is about both him and the pumpkin guy looking decidedly stupid while doing that dance, then they most certainly have a point.

I'm really not down with the whole sue everyone, every time, everywhere culture, though. As they say over here: "only in America". Nobody would sue anyone over such a ridiculously petty issue over here.

True, the part of asking money for it is a bit iffy, but on the other hand, where the hell does it stop? We could also sue "Carlton" for performing his moves on a Tom Jones song.

Did they pay royalties to Tom, or did they pay respect to him in the credits of the show? If not, let's sue the hell out of them, and "Carlton". Let him make his own bloody song to dance his stupid dance to...

You'd think he's actually endorse this, and work with Epic in marketing it. I'm sure there's more money to be made (and good PR) if he did an ad with them as opposed to suing them.

@ThanosReXXX "only in America"

As my son likes to say "Capitalism." And he says it very sarcastically, but that's pretty much his go to explanation for all that's wrong with America. Well not all of it, just some of it.

I'm going to guess Tom Jones was in the credits of the TV show whenever his song was used. Though maybe if you buy the Fresh Prince tv show box set that music is replaced by some generic club music to avoid paying him licensing fees. Lot of shows in the US were either held off of DVD or ruined by replacement music. So yeah, America, laws over common sense and people get paid one way or another.

https://www.vox.com/2014/11/3/7145231/shows-not-on-dvd-music-rights-wonder-years-wkrp

Really? "In the process of getting the dance copyrighted NOW." You snooze you lose. A little too late to do that now buddy. This dance has been imitated millions of times for profit by now. Carlton sit your broke butt down.

How could Epic be so cruel-house?

copyright law is a mess and is abused by pretty much everyone at this point, big companies and individual people alike. i don't like either party's actions in this case.

On one hand, suing for a dance move that probably belongs to the show rights owners, and/or Will Smith, not himself is absurd. OTOH, Epic taking things that belong to shows/films/music and charging people for them, flaunting the original influence in the name intentionally probably ought to be sued by someone.

@ThanosReXXX Yeah, that was my thought...

"Hey, I really AM Carlton!" probably isn't an image booster, either. Jaleel White doesn't go around saying "But I really AM Urkel!"....he also doesn't go around saying "But I really AM Sonic!"....he's very wise.....

If his moves came from copying someone else then he is also violating copyrights as well. As others mentioned why not other games that have those moves doesn't have to name it but the same moves would say regardless. I think like another said his lawyer was hungry for cash flow but I think this will backfire when the judge says here I see it done on other platforms why aren't not sueing them. And his lawyer oh they have more money. Yeah that will fly well to the judge.

@Therad completely wrong here..."money has never been an issue. It is about control. "

Then why isn't he suing other games using the same move. That is why he won't have standing to sue. Also he did those moves on the TV series so they own the moves not him even if he did it. He signed a contract so it's their property not his. That's what alot of posters forget you give you life up when you signed.

@SwitchForce his motivation might be money, but the laws are written so it doesn't matter if the offender earns money or not. That is a common misconception I see repeated time and time again.

Another is that he needs to sue every one. That is also false. He can give his silent blessings to anyone. And it would be super strange if it needed to sue every one, then he would have to play every game, watch every TV show and every movie. And if anyone would slip through, he would lose his rights.

No one can own dance moves. But that isn't what this is about. This is about his likeness. And those dance moves are tightly connected to him. That is the first person I think about when I see them. There is no denying it.

I personally think this is as bad as all other forms of copyrights, they are stifling culture more than helping nowadays. The original copyrights were 14 years, with an option to have another 14. That is more reasonable IMHO.

@rjejr Well, there you go. Just saying.

@Preposterous lol!

Yet he never went after Uncharted 3 for the "Carlton" taunt. Guess it wasn't big enough yet.

@Audiobrainiac

At least destiny doesn't directly charge for it lol

Gambling? What gambling? XD

And I see people calling these dance moves....... "Fortnite dance moves".......please......and people who hate Fortnite, hates "fortnite dance move" as well when they are not XD

@EasyDaRon that doesn't fly here. The studio owns everything you do for them. Just like Disney and company. Why else would they make you sign a contract for their benefit.

He'd better sue the Valve Corporation, too, because the Carlton Dance is one of Scout's taunts in Team Fortress 2. And I think you have to pay for that one, as well.

Now everyone on here can see what is really going on...

GREED for money.

If he was really going for IP protection he sure just blew himself out of the running.

He is known for that move. If epic didn’t get his permission then I think he has grounds.

Think I'm going to copyright how I walk and then sue everyone for walking like me.

@EasyDaRon "That's just not true. An individual performance and action by yourself is yours and not that of a company. Ifhe invented that move then it's his move."

Wrong, he did it on the show they own so they own everything. His performance has nothing to be his own. His moves are not a Music Video choreography that is copyright protected.

That's equating two different standards into one of which they are not the same. The artist made the video and produced it. The tv shows was made and created by the studio. Two different sets here.