The battle royale of Epic Games has faced several complaints over the years for this same issue.
Fortnite dances may seem innocent, but they have caused more than one headache to Epic Games, the studio behind the popular battle royale. The American company has been involved in several complaints of plagiarism, something that continues to occur, as The Verge has revealed that Matt Geiler, also known as "The Pumpkin Dancer Man", has asked the developer to stop trading with the emote in question.
Anyway, as indicated by the same media, on this occasion Epic Games did reach an agreement with Geiler to transfer the dance steps to the video game, so the reasons for this movement are not clear. This case goes beyond the dance in question and puts the focus on other aspects, such as the combination between the dance and the pumpkin head identify, according to the complainant, the character.
The company defends itself
Epic Games, meanwhile, has reacted quickly and filed a formal complaint. They argue that Fortnite does not specify at any time that it is the dance of the pumpkin man, in addition to using one of the characters of the video game, not to mention that Geiler himself signed an agreement by which he gave the license of the character, according to Epic. The company has asked the courts to declare that they have not violated the trademark.
It should be noted that in the other cases they were different, since they focused solely on the alleged violation of their copyright and not so much on the reproduction of a particular image. On the other hand, none of the previous complainants had signed an agreement with Epic Games.
Many of Fortnite's dance costumes were temporarily eliminated at the beginning of the year. On the other hand, by mandate of the Supreme Court of the United States, the plaintiffs were required to register their intellectual property before reporting.
The case of Fortnite dances exploded in 2018 with complaints such as that of Alfonso Ribeiro, the actor who played Carlton in the series The Prince of Bel-Air.
