New court documents show that the United States Copyright Office has ruled that Alfonso Ribeiro cannot copyright the dance that he popularized as Carlton on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, dealing a blow to Ribeiro’s case against Fortnite creator Epic Games over its use of the dance as an in-game emote.
Although courts “are not bound by the copyright office’s decision and could reach a different conclusion,” it may nevertheless influence the court’s ruling. Rapper 2 Milly, who is also suing Epic for the use of his Milly Rock dance, has also been denied a copyright claim for his dance, though Russell “Backpack Kid” Horning — creator of the now-(in)famous Floss dance — successfully registered a copyright for “a 30-second […] ‘variant'” of the dance.
Meanwhile, in the game itself, Fortnite’s latest content update has gone live, bringing with it a new limited-time item, the Driftboard, and a new LTM that will give players the opportunity to take it for a spin. The Driftboard lets players shred the slopes and their enemies simultaneously, allowing them to commit wholesale, wanton murder with totally rad style.
The new LTM, Driftin’, puts the Driftboard in the spotlight by pitting two teams of 32 players against one another on a map where all chests and ammo boxes have been removed and replaced by constant supply drops, each of which is guaranteed to contain a Driftboard plus weapons and ammo. As always, players will battle it out with one another until only the gnarliest team is left standing — or boarding, as the case may be. For all the details on the Driftboard and the Driftin’ LTM, you can check out the full patch notes on the game’s official site.
