Carlton Banks: Future of Emotes (Destiny)

by Robot Chickens, Tuesday, December 18, 2018, 12:36 (2243 days ago)
edited by Robot Chickens, Tuesday, December 18, 2018, 12:55

Actor Alfonso Ribeiro is suing to stop two video game developers from selling a dance popularized by his "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" character.

Destiny isn't named, but they did use it in the past.

It will be interesting to see if the games industry can satisfy the four factors that are weighed in any fair use claim. One of the factors weighed is whether the infringement was done for profit. Microtransactions might get a closer look here. Another layer is whether Alfronso was working for hire (meaning Fox owns the copyright) or whether the dance is his own intellectual property. If it is the former, than large companies like Fox could start suing for the rights to these moves. That would suck. Imagine the BBC suing for the ridiculous walk (not that they would, but they could)?

I wonder if this will have a chilling effect on the adaptation of popular dances in videogames if he is successful.