Published on Aug 31, 2014 
 
 Born 2 Win Productions Presents... The OFFICIAL Video for "Milly Rock" 
 
 Performed By 2Milly (@2Milly) of STACKPAPER HOOLIES 
 
 Shot and Edited By "SP" (@sp_da_winner430) and "BossBags"(@bossbags718) for Born2WinProductions 
 
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 Post Your Best Video using #MILLYROCK ||||| Fortnite is one of the most popular video games of 2018 with more 200 million users playing the third-person shooter. But the game's enormous success hasn't come without controversy: a number of artists have accused Fortnite of stealing their dances moves and some are now taking legal action. 
 
 Update: According to papers filed in California district court, rapper 2 Milly, real name Terrence Ferguson, claims that Epic Games "should not be able to profit from Ferguson's fame and hard work by its intentional misappropriation of Ferguson's original content or likeness." The lawsuit also claims that Epic Games appropriated other dance moves from prominent African-American actors and musicians, proof that the company "consistently sought to exploit African-American talent in particular in Fortnite by copying their dances and movements." 
 
 As of Dec. 17, actor Alfonso Ribeiro is also suing Fortnite for using his signature "Carlton Dance," from the TV show the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. According to the suit, filed in U.S. federal court, the game uses his signature dance without his permission, "exploiting Ribeiro's protected creative expression and likeness and celebrity without his consent or authorization." 
 
 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's Alfonso Ribeiro sues Fortnite dev Epic Games over stolen "Carlton Dance" <a href="https://t.co/pdZcS1n3Wk">https://t.co/pdZcS1n3Wk</a> <a href="https://t.co/eEkhujiQIo">pic.twitter.com/eEkhujiQIo</a> —@GameSpot 
 
 Following news of Ribeiro's lawsuit, Backpack Kid, real name Russell Horning, has joined the growing wave of artists suing Epic Games. Horning is the creator of the Floss dance move, which Fortnite included in its gameplay as of December of 2017. Horning is suing for unspecified damages and wants Fortnite, as well as other companies, including 2K Sports, the maker of NBA 2K, to refrain from using his moves without permission. 
 
 How it began 
 
 Released by Epic Games in 2017, Fortnite is free to download and play and has already earned more than $1 billion U.S. — more than any other free console game in history. So how does a free game earn so much money? Through in-game purchases that allow players to buy things like accessories, characters or emotes. It's estimated that almost 70 percent of players make in-game purchases, with players spending an average of $84.67, according to a report. 
 
 Emotes, which allow players to make their character perform hand gestures or dance, have proven to be one of the most popular aspects of the game, and are used as a way to taunt opponents, celebrate or take part in dance-centred competitions. Fortnite emotes have also pervaded internet culture and YouTube is filled with videos of people doing Fortnite dances or offering instructional videos. "Fortnite Dance Challenge (in Real Life)" is one of the most watched video on YouTube in Canada for 2018. 
 
 But here's the issue: the hugely popular Fortnite dances are largely based on existing dance moves created by artists and made popular online — and now those creators want to be compensated. 
 
 It was a smart move for Epic Games to tap into internet meme culture when designing their emotes, taking the most viral moves from choreographers, rappers, comedians, even TV shows like Seinfeld, and adapting them for their game. The effect has been twofold: it makes the dance move more popular than ever, while also tying Fortnite's brand to something viral. In the process, it also strips the art from the artist who created it. If you weren't already following rap or internet culture, it would be easy to assume the dance originated in Fortnite. 
 
 Everybody was like, Yo your dance is in the game. - 2 Milly 
 
 Rapper 2 Milly originally took umbrage with Epic Games after they introduced an emote this summer called "Swipe It," which is identical to his viral Milly Rock dance, a move he created and popularized in 2014 in the video for his song . Epic charged players $5 for the Swipe It emote. Milly Rock . Epic charged players $5 for the Swipe It emote. 
 
 "Everybody was like, 'Yo your dance is in the game,'" 2 Milly told CBS News. "They actually sell the particular move. It's for purchase. That's when I was really like 'Oh nah, this can't go on too long.'" 
 
 Milly says he has plans to sue Epic and has already lawyered up. 
 
 Chance the Rapper also weighed in on Twitter, accusing Epic of capitalizing off of Black creatives without compensating them. He suggested that Epic could pay artists, tweeting "Fortnite should put the actual rap songs behind the dances that make so much money as Emotes." Fortnite should put the actual rap songs behind the dances that make so much money as Emotes. Black creatives created and popularized these dances but never monetized them. Imagine the money people are spending on these Emotes being shared with the artists that made them —@chancetherapper 
 
 Can you copyright a dance move? 
 
 It's difficult to copyright a dance move, according to copyright lawyer Eric Norton, who says that "dance moves themselves are not trademarkable because they are not used to identify where goods or services originate, unlike a logo, slogan, or brand name." 
 
 Simply performing a dance move isn't enough to allow you to register for a U.S. patent. But Norton also references successful trademarks that have been acquired for certain NFL touchdown celebrations, ones where the name of the dance is tied to the public person, such as Tebowing or Kaepernicking. That said, it's still not the move itself that is trademarked, only the name of it. 
 
 According to Business Insider UK, it's not possible to protect a single dance step or move, but it is for a larger choreographic work that involves multiple steps, such as, perhaps, the Electro Shuffle, which involved an elaborate routine. What you can't protect is individual dance steps or "social dance steps," which would be akin to trying to copyright individual words or colours. For example, Michael Jackson's Moonwalk, one of the most famous dance moves on the planet, is not even patented. 
 
 Culture vulturing 
 
 J Milly is far from the first rapper that Fortnite has looked to for inspiration. The "Tidy" emote is taken from Snoop Dogg's moves he performed in the video for Drop it Like It's Hot , while the "Hype" emote is a copy of BlocBoy JB's Shoot dance, which he popularized this summer in his video for Shoot (Drake also performed it in the video for their collaboration, Look Alive.) 
 
 EveryTime Somebody Does My Dance Dey Give Credit To <a href="https://twitter.com/FortniteGame?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FortniteGame</a> But Dey Ain’t Create Nothing But Da Game So Basically Dey Takin Money And Credit For My Shit Dats Crazy —@BlocBoy_JB 
 
 "Dey Takin Money And Credit For My S--t Dats Crazy," BlocBoy tweeted in September. 
 
 This is my job, I do this for a living. … In the end all I want is some respect for something I created. - Marlon Webb 
 
 But it doesn't end there. Fortnite looks at all facets of pop culture for its emotes, in essence making it a meta exercise: the more steeped you are in popular culture, the more references you'll get. 
 
 There are the blatantly mainstream references, such as Carlton's dance from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, which Fortnite calls "Fresh," or Psy's Gangnam Style, called "Ride the Pony." There are also the more obscure, with no internet rabbit hole too deep or meme too niche. There is a Salt Bae emote, which would make absolutely no sense to a player without knowing the original reference. The same goes for Techno Viking, a meme from 2000 featuring a shirtless man dancing at a street rave in Germany. Techno Viking, whose identity has never been made public, successfully sued the man who posted the original video online for infringement of his personality rights. Fortnite added its Techno Viking emote this summer, but there's no word on whether the originator is aware of the use, or plans to sue. 
 
 One of the most popular Fortnite dances is called Best Mates, which is a copy of a viral comedy sketch from 2016. 
 
 Comedian Marlon Webb reflected on the experience on YouTube. "I'm being stolen from right now," he says. "It's dope that this run is part of one of the biggest games created. The f--ked up part is that I wasn't even notified by Fortnite. … This is my job, I do this for a living. … In the end all I want is some respect for something I created." 
 
 Dancer Gabby David had a similar experience when her dance routine, posted to YouTube in 2017, was turned into the "Electro Shuffle" emote. "They 1000% stole my stuff," she tweeted in January. 
 
 I didn’t send anyone a clip they stole it from me and are now settling with me aka they 1000% stole my stuff —@GabbyJDavid 
 
 She also added that Fortnite was "settling" with her, although declined to add any further details about what that settlement contained when contacted for comment. David now offers a "Fortnite Electro Shuffle Tutorial," which has more than 4 million views on YouTube. 
 
 A lot of games rely on memes and popular culture for inspiration, including World of Warcraft, Overwatch and the NBA 2K franchise, the latter allowing players to dance the Milly Rock. Fortnite, however, through it's unprecedented popularity, has found itself in the spotlight when it comes to artists looking for credit or compensation. 
 
 By appropriating internet and meme culture, Fortnite has uniquely positioned itself at a crossroads where things that are popular on the internet become popular in real life, whether the creators want it or not. To some, this is just how the internet works: something becomes popular, everybody copies it, and then it becomes part of the culture. Maybe Drake or Ellen make reference to it, or Fortnite turns it into an emote, and then it's mainstream. 
 
 Whether the creators of the culture can find ways to get paid from their creations still remains to be seen. ||||| The interactive transcript could not be loaded. 
 
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 This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. ||||| Rapper 2 Milly is suing the maker of Fortnite, Epic Games, for selling his signature “Milly Rock” dance as an emote called “Swipe It.” Pierce Bainbridge, the law firm representing 2 Milly, filed the complaint in the Central District Court of California today, accusing Epic of, among other things, copyright infringement, and exploiting African American talent for profit in the game. 
 
 
 
 The Milly Rock dance was first introduced into Fortnite as part of its season five battle pass, which came out in July. The dance, which was popularized in 2 Milly’s 2014 song by the same name, was rebranded as “Swipe It,” and given to players who purchased the roughly $10 battle pass and reached its Tier 63 reward. 2 Milly told Kotaku in an email at the time that he felt like his dance had been stolen and that he wished Epic had approached him about using the dance before it was added to Fortnite. He’s now suing the company for damages and to have the emote removed from the game. 
 
 “I was never compensated by Epic Games for their use of the ‘Milly Rock,’” 2 Milly said in a press release. “They never even asked for my permission. I am thrilled to have David Hecht and his team at Pierce Bainbridge representing me to help right this wrong.” 
 
 It’s unclear whether today’s lawsuit will go anywhere, but if it does it could have big consequences not just for Fortnite, which has been copying and selling dance moves from lots of artists, but other games that also sell dance emotes. 
 
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 The US started protecting dances under copyright law beginning with the Copyright Act of 1976, the last time copyright law underwent a major revision. According to the lawsuit, 2 Milly applied to register his dance with the Copyright Office on December 4, but having a registered copyright isn’t a requirement for copyright protection. 
 
 2 Milly’s law firm isn’t just going after Epic about whether the company had the okay to use the dance. While there are white actors and artists whose dance moves also show up in Fortnite, the firm is citing this as a racial matter. The debate around this issue, originally raised by Chance the Rapper back in July, has been gaining momentum again as 2 Milly and others have continued to speak out about it. At a Scrubs reunion panel during the Vulture Festival last month, actor Donald Faison, who played Turk on the show, told the audience that he never got any money from Epic for his “Poison” dance from the show which ended up becoming Fortnite’s default dance emote. “If you want to see it, you can play Fortnite, because they jacked that shit!” he said of the dance he made up on the spot during production. 
 
 “I think they believe that they can railroad African American talent because they doubt that there will be any legal consequence,” Hecht told Kotaku in an interview over the phone. He said he believes there’s a general expectation in the business world that individual artists, even if they’re famous, can’t stand up to a large corporation like Epic, calling it an alarming trend. Hecht’s firm recently represented the Nigerian jewelry maker Chris Aire who reached a settlement against French luxury maker LVMH over its use of his “Red Gold” trademark. 
 
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 When reached by Kotaku, a spokesperson for Epic said it had no comment on the matter. 
 
 
 
 While a large part of the lawsuit filed revolves around copyright claims, it also alleges that Epic violated 2 Milly’s publicity rights under California law. It’s intended to protect a person’s right to control how their likeness or aspects of their identity are used for commercial purposes. 2 Milly’s lawsuit claims the sale of his dance created the false impression that he endorsed Fortnite or consented to his likeness being used in the game. It also alleges that Epic digitally copied the dance from 2 Milly’s own performance of it, rather than trying to simply recreate it from scratch. The likeness claim may seem like a stretch given that, while 2 Milly’s dance appears in the game, he does not. 
 
 The firm is also suing Epic on behalf of another of the firm’s clients, Lenwood “Skip” Hamilton. The former football player and wrestler has accused Epic of stealing his likeness to create the character of Cole Train from Gears of War against his wishes. The suit, which is also against Microsoft, which published the games, and Lester Speight, a former co-worker of Hamilton’s who went on to voice the character, was filed in January of 2017 and is still ongoing. Epic has not commented on that case either. ||||| Brooklyn rapper 2 Milly is suing Epic Games over its alleged misappropriation, use, and sale of his “Milly Rock” dance in its popular battle royale game “Fortnite.” The lawsuit was filed in a California district court on Wednesday. 
 
 The Milly Rock was featured in a 2014 music video of the same name. Epic added a similar dance emote called “Swipe It” during “Fortnite’s” Season 5. You can see both in the videos below. 
 
 
 
 
 
 “This isn’t the first time that Epic Games has brazenly misappropriated the likeness of African-American talent. Our client Lenwood ‘Skip’ Hamilton is pursuing similar claims against Epic for use of his likeness in the popular ‘Cole Train’ character in the ‘Gears of War’ video game franchise,” said David L. Hecht, partner at Pierce Bainbridge. “Epic cannot be allowed to continue to take what does not belong to it.” 
 
 “Fortnite” currently has over 200 million registered players and makes millions of dollars off of downloadable content like character skins and dance emotes. But, 2 Milly said he was never compensated for the use of his Milly Rock dance. “They never even asked for my permission,” he said. “I am thrilled to have David Hecht and his team at Pierce Bainbridge representing me to help right this wrong.” 
 
 2 Milly is not the first person to accuse Epic of stealing their moves. “Scrubs” actor Donald Faison has expressed some sour grapes in the past over the developer’s use of a dance he created for Bell Biv DeVoe’s song “Poison.” “Dear ‘Fortnite’ … I’m flattered?” he said on Twitter in April. “Though part of me thinks I should talk to a lawyer…” 
 
 Dear fortnite… I’m flattered? Though part of me thinks I should talk to a lawyer… — Donald Faison (@donald_faison) April 1, 2018 
 
 Chance The Rapper has also criticized Epic on Twitter, saying, “‘Fortnite’ should put the actual rap songs behind the dances that make so much money as emotes. Black creatives created and popularized these dances but never monetized them. Imagine the money people are spending on these emotes being shared with the artists that made them.” 
 
 Related The Best Pop Culture Gifts of 2018 'Fortnite' Was The Most Talked About Game on Twitter in 2018 
 
 Fortnite should put the actual rap songs behind the dances that make so much money as Emotes. Black creatives created and popularized these dances but never monetized them. Imagine the money people are spending on these Emotes being shared with the artists that made them — Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) July 13, 2018 
 
 Epic Games is not the first developer to use the Milly Rock. It showed up in 2K Sports’ basketball sim “NBA 2K18,” according to Insider (which has a good breakdown on Epic’s history of dance appropriation and the 2 Milly situation here). Insider spoke to an intellectual property lawyer, who said copyright law doesn’t protect individual dance steps or simple routines, but it does protect what’s called “choreographic work.” The U.S. Copyright Office views individual steps the same way it would individual colors or words, she said. 
 
 Variety contacted Epic Games about the lawsuit, but it declined to comment.
– Characters in the wildly popular video game Fortnite can snag celebratory emotes—read dances—based on real moves. There's The Floss, The Worm, and the Electro Shuffle. There's the Turk Dance as featured on Scrubs and this Seinfeld scene. And, to 2 Milly's dismay, his Milly Rock dance, dubbed "Swipe It" within the game. The rapper, real name Terrence Ferguson, says maker Epic Games included his signature move in Fortnite, where it can be bought for $5, without his permission and without offering compensation, in a copyright infringement lawsuit filed Wednesday in California, per Variety and the CBC. His lawyer tells Kotaku race is a factor, noting it appears "they believe that they can railroad African-American talent because they doubt that there will be any legal consequence," though the Kotaku points out non-African-Americans could lob similar accusations. The CBC notes that while Fornite is free to download, in-game purchases of things like emotes have reeled in more than $1 billion for Epic Games since 2017 in the US alone. While 2 Milly registered the Milly Rock with the Copyright Office on Dec. 4, a lawyer explains it's typically the name of a dance move that's trademarked, rather than the move itself. The CBC's take: It was a "smart move" for Epic to tie its brand to the most viral of moves, but it comes at a cost for the originator: "If you weren't already following rap or internet culture, it would be easy to assume the dance originated in Fortnite."