*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.
Former Take-Two CEO Kelly Sumner is looking for the next big game. But rather than investing hundreds of millions, his blockchain-based video game publisher Planet Digital Partners is targeting mid-level games often ignored by big publishers.
"Electronic Arts, Take-Two, Activision ($ATVI), etc., they are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a game, expecting to be ... getting billions. And the kind of middle, where there's sort of really good, exciting games, isn't there," Sumner told Cheddar Friday.
At Amazon's annual shareholder meeting this spring, a group of investors will be asking the tech giant to halt all governments sales of its proprietary facial recognition technology, known as Rekognition. The software, which scans faces and can read human emotions, tells the government "who we are, what we are, what we're doing, and who we're doing it with," said Michael Connor, the executive director of corporate accountability non-profit Open Mic.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk's email to employees on Friday announcing that the electric car maker will be slashing its workforce by 7 percent is just the latest in a long line of troubles for the embattled company ー troubles that brand and marketing expert Ian Wishingrad don't see ending any time soon.
On Friday morning, Tesla announced it would slash its workforce by 7 percent in order to make a cheaper Model 3 vehicle. Netflix shares were trading slightly lower after the streaming giant reported mixed results in its most recent quarter. Plus, GirlCrew co-founder Pamela Newenham joins our weekly show ChedHER to discuss the inspiration behind her platform.
Microsoft President Brad Smith called for an end to the government shutdown during an appearance on Cheddar Thursday, saying that the political stalemate in the U.S. is contributing to broader international instability resulting from the ongoing Brexit chaos and weakness in the Chinese economy.
Inflated housing prices and long commute times in tech hubs nationwide is "sapping the vitality" from cities, Microsoft President Brad Smith told Cheddar Thursday following the company's announcement it would invest $500 million to address affordable housing and homelessness in and around Seattle, Wash.
TradeStation, the online broker-dealer, is dipping its toes into crypto. Speaking with Cheddar's Tanaya Macheel at the North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami on Thursday, CEO John Bartleman said crypto trading would be a "natural extension" to the asset classes currently offered on the TradeStation platform.
Abra, the crypto exchange and digital wallet startup, is trying to fundamentally change the way banking is done with a simple consumer-facing app that allows users to effectively create "synthetic" dollars using the inherent value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Bill Barhydt, Abra's co-founder and CEO, explained the strategy to Cheddar's Tanaya Macheel at the North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami.
Ford Motor Company and Volkswagen AG announced at the Detroit Auto Show they will form a "broad alliance," but the reality of a partnership may present certain conflicts for both companies. "I think that this is going to be a very difficult friendship to make work because Ford ($F) is expected to make some pickup trucks for Volkswagen, which sounds good because Volkswagen needs those pickups in other markets," Nathan Bomey, business reporter at USA Today, told Cheddar Wednesday.
There is a scene in the 2002 sci-fi film "Minority Report" that has always struck me. John Anderton, the film's protagonist played by Tom Cruise, is running through a mall, bombarded by ads from premium brands like American Express and Lexus that are tailor-made just for him. I was always fascinated by that moment in the film ー because it seemed so far-fetched and dystopian, but at the same time, almost pre-ordained.
