04-27-2019, 11:57 PM
Epic Games is facing yet another lawsuit over a Fortnite emote
<div style="margin: 5px 5% 10px 5%;"><img src="http://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/epic-games-is-facing-yet-another-lawsuit-over-a-fortnite-emote.jpg" width="200" height="200" title="" alt="" /></div><div><p>Epic Games has been hit with a number of lawsuits at this point over several of the emotes featured in its free-to-play battle royale game <em>Fortnite</em>, but the latest person to accuse Epic Games of using their likeness or dance moves without permission is taking a slightly different legal approach.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/25/18516306/fortnite-epic-games-phone-it-in-saxophone-emote-lawsuit-leo-pellegrino-likeness">According to the Verge</a>, the musician Leo Pellegrino has filed a lawsuit against Epic Games that accuses the company of misappropriating his likeness for the game’s “Phone It In” emote.</p>
<p>Pellegrino is represented by the same law firm representing many of the other artists that have taken a legal stab at Epic Games since <em>Fortnite</em> rose to popularity. While those past cases focused on copyright infringement over the use of certain dance moves, Pellegrino is arguing that Epic’s use of his “trademark moves [that] have become inseparable from his persona and his life story” makes this a case of using his likeness without permission or compensation rather than copyright infringement.</p>
<p>As the Verge points out, it’s likely a legal strategy intended to get around some of the roadblocks faced by the murky business of copywriting dance moves that have held up similar cases filed by Alfonso Ribeiro, 2 Milly, and others.</p>
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<div style="margin: 5px 5% 10px 5%;"><img src="http://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/epic-games-is-facing-yet-another-lawsuit-over-a-fortnite-emote.jpg" width="200" height="200" title="" alt="" /></div><div><p>Epic Games has been hit with a number of lawsuits at this point over several of the emotes featured in its free-to-play battle royale game <em>Fortnite</em>, but the latest person to accuse Epic Games of using their likeness or dance moves without permission is taking a slightly different legal approach.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/25/18516306/fortnite-epic-games-phone-it-in-saxophone-emote-lawsuit-leo-pellegrino-likeness">According to the Verge</a>, the musician Leo Pellegrino has filed a lawsuit against Epic Games that accuses the company of misappropriating his likeness for the game’s “Phone It In” emote.</p>
<p>Pellegrino is represented by the same law firm representing many of the other artists that have taken a legal stab at Epic Games since <em>Fortnite</em> rose to popularity. While those past cases focused on copyright infringement over the use of certain dance moves, Pellegrino is arguing that Epic’s use of his “trademark moves [that] have become inseparable from his persona and his life story” makes this a case of using his likeness without permission or compensation rather than copyright infringement.</p>
<p>As the Verge points out, it’s likely a legal strategy intended to get around some of the roadblocks faced by the murky business of copywriting dance moves that have held up similar cases filed by Alfonso Ribeiro, 2 Milly, and others.</p>
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