Now this is a story all about how,
Copyright law got turned all upside down,
And I'd like to take a minute
Just sit right there
I'll tell you how Carlton Dance is in a court near Bel-Air
Welcome back to Legal Geek. This week, as you might have guessed, we cover the lawsuit filed last month over the use of the Carlton Dance made famous in the 90s TV show The Prince of Bel-Air in two highly popular video game franchises.
Alfonso Ribeiro is the actor who brought the character of Carlton Banks to life, in The Prince of Bel-Air. One memorable moment from that show was when Carlton dances a jig to a Tom Jones tune, and the way he flaps his arms about became forever known as "the Carlton dance." Homage to this moment has been paid in many other television shows and other contexts, but Ribeiro now says the use of such a dance in two popular video games has crossed the line of copyright infringement.
His claims are against Epic Games, who makes Fortnite, and against Take-Two Interactive, who makes the NBA 2K series. In the case of Fortnite, a purchasable emote called Fresh allows characters to dance in the style of The Carlton Dance. Both of these video game franchises have one thing in common: they make boatloads of money. Hence the primary reason this lawsuit was filed, as Ribeiro seeks a cut of that pie based on the video game developers' decision to use The Carlton Dance as a fun side element of their games.
We discussed a few segments ago the types of rights Jet Li could have been protecting in his ninja moves when he declined to do a bunch of motion capture for the Matrix filmmakers two decades ago. Any copyright Ribeiro has in this dance is based on a similar theory of artistic performance and expression, although unlike many ninja moves, this dance does have uniqueness in the field of dancing.
Ribeiro is not the only celebrity suing these game makers under this type of legal theory, as other lawsuits by Backpack Kid, inventor of The Floss dance, and by the rapper 2 Milly are also pending in California courts. Plus, other celebrities like Mike Tyson have sued when iconic elements of their persona or appearance were used without compensation being paid by video game or movie makers. But does the Carlton Dance lawsuit stand a chance?
There are a few potential hurdles to overcome for this lawsuit. First, Ribeiro performed the dance while working as a performer on a TV show, so there is an argument that any copyright in the dance could be a Work Made For Hire that belongs to the show's producers instead of him. The copyright may not be valid based on U.S. copyright Office guidance offered last year saying that it cannot register short dance routines consisting of only a few movements, even if novel or distinctive. While the Carlton Dance makes for a stronger case for copyright infringement than the other current suits, there are still a lot of potential fatal flaws in this legal case to expect Ribeiro to succeed on the merits.
The Bottom Line is, once again, where there's a lot of money being made, more attention and lawsuits will follow to try and share in the wealth. There's no doubt these video game developers and others who have incorporated these dance moves before them should have attributed credit and possibly paid a small license fee to include these add-ons, especially when they are paid add-ons like in Fortnite. But the moral right thing to do is not always what is legally required, and while The Carlton Dance makes a better case than most, I suspect the court will tell Ribeiro "yo homes smell ya later" at the end of the process.
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