Basketball Players’ Fortnite Dance Lawsuit Tossed From Court

One of the most popular aspects of the battle Royale game Fortnite is the number of customizations from dance moves to skins that can be added to the player’s character. It’s become seemingly popular for people to sue Fortnite developer Epic Games for allegedly stealing their dance moves. The suits keep coming even though they are routinely tossed out of court.

The most recent lawsuit came from a pair of former University of Maryland men’s basketball players who accused Epic Games of misappropriating a dance move that they popularized. US District Court Judge Paul Graham ruled Friday that the copyright Act preempts claims that Jared Nickens and Jaylen Brantley found in February 2019 against Epic Games.

The duo claimed that Epic had misappropriated their identities by digitally copying a dance they popularized called “Running Man Challenge,” which they performed on social media videos and network television in 2016. In their claim, the duo said that the “Running Man” emote used in Fortnite was identical to the dance that the pair took credit for creating reports ESPN.

The pair was seeking more than $5 million in damages. “Plaintiffs seek to place the same square peg into eight round holes in search of a cause of action against Epic Games for its use of the Running Man dance in its game Fortnite. But Plaintiffs’ claims that Epic Games copied the dance do not support any of their theories,” the judge wrote.