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Results: Copyright 'Carlton' dance denied

Published on 02/16/2019
By: msrcms
1896
Celebrities
Alfonso Ribeiro sued the creator of Fortnite in December, claiming the popular video game had stolen a dance he created on “The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air.” Source: HuffPost.
1.
1.
Actor Alfonso Ribeiro probably isn't kicking up his heels at this news: The U.S. Copyright Office won't allow him to copyright his famous "Carlton Dance." Ribeiro created the dance in the early 1990's while playing Will Smith's cousin Carlton on "The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air." In December, the actor sued video gaming companies Epic Games, the creator of "Fortnite," and Take-Two Interactive, which owns the "NBA 2K" series, for including the dance in their games without his permission. Are you familiar with this story?
Yes
32%
599 votes
No
68%
1297 votes
2.
2.
To boost his case, Ribeiro sought to copyright the Carlton Dance, but his application was denied by the U.S. Copyright Office, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The copyright office rejected the registration because Ribeiro's "choreographic work" was just a "simple dance routine," Saskia Florence, a supervisory registration specialist in the office's Performing Arts Division, told Ribeiro's attorney David Hecht, according to correspondence written last month that surfaced on Wednesday in California federal court. Do you think this is a simple dance routine, or the Carlton is choreographic work?
via GIPHY
A simple dance routine.
39%
740 votes
The Carlton is choreographic work.
21%
402 votes
Undecided
25%
475 votes
N/A
15%
279 votes
3.
3.
Do the two dance moves in the video from question #1 (the Carlton & Fortnite) look similar to you?
Do the two dance moves in the video from question #1 (the Carlton & Fortnite) look similar to you?
Yes
56%
1066 votes
No
14%
270 votes
Did not watch the video/or could not view the video.
30%
560 votes
4.
4.
Even without the denied lawsuit, do you think Alfonso Ribeiro should be allowed copyright protection for the Carlton dance?
Even without the denied lawsuit, do you think Alfonso Ribeiro should be allowed copyright protection for the Carlton dance?
Yes
28%
535 votes
No
37%
710 votes
Undecided
34%
651 votes
5.
5.
Robert Brauneis, co-director of the intellectual property program at George Washington University Law School, told The New York Times the denial isn't exactly a shocker. "That does not surprise me in the least," Brauneis said. "It's like a word or a short phrase. The copyright office has always taken the position that words or phrases are not copyright-able, and this is exactly like a word or a phrase in a dance. You could repeat that word or phrase indefinitely (here I'm shaking my hips, here I'm shaking my hips, again and again) but that repetition doesn't make the fragment subject to copyright protection." Hecht told the paper he plans to ask the copyright office to reconsider, saying that even if the individual movements are simple, the way Ribeiro arranged it qualifies it as a choreographic work. "It's the same as when you combine notes in a musical composition," the lawyer said. "Those compilations would be entitled to copyright protection under the law."When Ribeiro filed his lawsuit in December, TMZ noted that the actor said in 2012 that he "stole" the movements for the dance from Courteney Cox's moves in Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing In The Dark" video, and from an Eddie Murphy routine in which he imitated white people dancing. Ribeiro's attorney later claimed his client used the word "stole" in jest and "not in the legal sense." Do you think Alfonso Ribeiro had the right to sue the creator of Fortnite for copyright of the Carlton dance?
Robert Brauneis, co-director of the intellectual property program at George Washington University Law School, told The New York Times the denial isn't exactly a shocker.
Yes
24%
464 votes
No
35%
666 votes
Undecided
40%
766 votes
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