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Jared Nickens, left, Jaylen Brantley (AP Images)
Two former basketball players from the University of Maryland are suing the creators of "Fortnite," claiming that the creators of the video game had hijacked a dance that they had popularized online.
The federal complaint, filed Monday in Maryland, accuses Epic Games Inc. of unfairly enjoying the "Running Man Challenge" danced by Jared Nickens and Jaylen Brantley in social media videos and on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in 2016.
The "Running Man" dance that "Fortnite" players can buy for their characters is identical to the dance that Nickens and Brantley boast to create, their pursuit charges for copyright infringement.
Other artists, including rapper 2 Milly, based in Brooklyn, and star of "New Prince of Bel-Air", Alfonso Ribeiro, have also sued Epic Games for other dances featured in the game. shoot. Celebration dances in "Fortnite" are called "emotes".
Epic Games spokesman Nick Chester said in an email on Tuesday that the company based in Cary, North Carolina, was not commenting on the ongoing litigation.
In response to the lawsuit filed by Ribeiro in California, Epic Games lawyers claimed that "no one can have a dance step or a simple dance routine".
"Basically, this lawsuit is at odds with the principles of freedom of expression because it tries to impose a responsibility, and consequently to cool the creative expression, claiming rights that Ribeiro does not hold not and could not detain, "they wrote in a document filed Friday the court to dismiss.
The US Copyright Office denied Ribeiro a copyright for the "Carlton" dance that his character performed during the 1990s sitcom.
"The Copyright Act states clearly that no one may possess individual dance steps or simple dance routines consisting of multiple stages, as they constitute blocks of free expression that are not protected. by the author's right, "wrote the company's attorneys.
Nickens and Brantley participated in the DeGeneres talk show alongside two high school students from New Jersey who posted online dance videos before the two basketball players from the University of Maryland filmed their own version. . Brantley told DeGeneres that Nickens first showed him the dance in a video on Instagram.
"We dance every day for our teammates in the locker room," said Brantley. "We were like:" Hey, let's make a video and let everyone laugh. "
One of their dance videos has millions of views on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook, says their costume.
Brantley of Springfield, Mass., And Nickens of Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, claim more than $ 5 million in damages.
"They have never benefited from their creation," said their lawyer, Richard Jaklitsch.
Nickens currently plays professional basketball in Canada, while Brantley works as a sports agent, according to their lawyer.
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