*By Chloe Aiello*
Actor Alfonso Ribeiro's case against Epic Games for its use of "the Carlton" dance in "Fortnite" might come down to a jury's sympathy, rather than copyright technicalities, intellectual property lawyer Gaston Kroub told Cheddar on Tuesday.
"I think it's a mistake to only focus on the copyright issues, because you do have this idea where you have this right of publicity under California state law ... Could a sympathetic jury decide that these \[artists\] deserve something from 'Fortnite'? That's something that remains to be seen," said Kroub, a partner at Kroub, Silbersher & Kolmykov.
Ribeiro, who rose to fame playing Carlton on "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air," is suing Epic and Take-Two Interactive, the maker of "NBA 2K." Both use "the Carlton" step that Ribeiro made famous on the show as an "emote," a celebratory dance that can be purchased by players in-game.
Ribeiro is just the latest celebrity or influencer to file a suit. Rapper 2 Milly and Instagrammer Russell “Backpack Kid” Horning have also filed complaints for misappropriation of their respective dances, the "Milly Rock" and "the Floss," [Variety reported](https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/fortnite-dance-lawsuit-1203092141/). The complaints allege copyright infringement and claim the game creators are violating the right of publicity of the celebrities associated with the dances.
"What Alfonso Ribeiro and 2 Milly and the Backpack Kid now have claimed is it looks like they're endorsing 'Fortnite''s use of their dance moves and they haven't provided that permission," Kroub said.
The outcome of these cases is difficult to predict.
"You can't copyright a single dance move but you can copyright under the copyright act choreography," he said, adding that copyrights on the moves are still pending.
"Really at the heart of this, though, is the fact that Epic is making a lot of money and these dances are generating revenue."
He added that one potential defense for Epic or Take-Two is to claim they were parodying, not performing, the dances. That said, the case will also depend on the items uncovered during discovery ー whether or not the game makers contacted any artists or just assumed the dances were public domain.
Most interestingly, Kroub said the complaints venture into "uncharted territory."
"No one knew a year ago 'the Carlton' would be generating untold numbers of revenue for a company, like Epic. And what we are seeing is video games are a big business and celebrities want to be associated," he said.
Food pickup app Ritual has big expansion plans. But its founder says the company's rapid growth can actually be traced back to a slower start. "Ritual's about your neighborhood, and I think what a lot of other companies did differently was they tried to go too broad too quickly, and they just lack the depth and coverage that Ritual has," Ray Reddy, co-founder and CEO of Ritual, told Cheddar Wednesday. "And we still approach the world neighborhood by neighborhood, and ensure that it's actually compelling."
Step aside, Siri and Alexa. VR studio Fable is relaunching as a "virtual beings" company to bring the public its first A.I.-powered character with whom users can have a two-way relationship. According to co-founders Edward Saatchi and Pete Billington, the rebranding ー which the two announced at the 2019 Sundance Festival ー is partly an effort to educate consumers about machine learning.
Microsoft shares dropped in extended trading on Wednesday despite reporting better-than-expected quarterly earnings due to investor concerns about its crucial cloud business.
Tesla shares sank in extended trading on Wednesday after reporting mixed earnings and revenue. The electric carmaker reported earnings per share of $1.93 cents on revenue of $7.23 billion, just missing expectations on earnings, but beating on revenue. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters anticipated earnings of $2.20 per share on $7.08 billion in revenue.
Facebook soared in extended trading on Wednesday after reporting fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street forecasts. Facebook reported earnings per share of $2.38 on revenue of $16.91 billion. That topped analysts' expectations for $2.19 earnings per share on $16.4 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.
Visible wants to make signing up for a phone service as easy as calling a Lyft. The digital-only wireless carrier backed by Verizon offers unlimited text, talk, data, and hot-spot for $40 a month. CEO Miguel Quiroga, a telecom industry veteran, says that this is the phone service that consumers want.
As digital advertising is increasingly beholden to the Google/Facebook duopoly, Glamour is experimenting with what it sees as the future of the industry: a multi-faceted revenue model that uses a combination of traditional ads, metered or niche paywalls, events, audio and e-commerce, even as it kills off its one-time moneymaker, the monthly print edition. Samantha Barry, Glamour's editor-in-chief, told Cheddar in an interview Wednesday that she sees the 80-year-old iconic brand as a "service for women."
The ongoing feud between Apple and Facebook just heated up. Apple said on Wednesday that it revoked Facebook’s access to its Developer Enterprise Program, a move that kneecaps the social network and marks a steep escalation of tensions between the two tech giants.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019.
Waze is rolling out its beacon technology in New York City to improve tunnel navigation and help drivers commute in and out of the Big Apple. "This allows us to basically locate the users inside the tunnels," said head of Waze Beacons Gil Disatnik in an interview on Cheddar Tuesday.
