Artists’ Lawsuits Against Fortnite Creators May Rely on Rights of Publicity

No one does the Carlton quite like Carlton Banks.  (Queue Tom Jones’s It’s Not Unusual.)  Since actor Alfonso Ribeiro first performed the unique dance on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, it has been readily associated with him.  When the dance move recently appeared as a purchasable avatar dance in the popular video game, Fortnite, players quickly recognized Carlton’s signature move.   Fortnite is a battle royale-style combat game in which players, through their avatars, fight to the finish.  In-game purchases allow players to download character skins, clothing, and emotes (dances) for their avatars to perform on the battlefield.  In January 2018, the makers of Fortnite introduced a new emote available for purchase: a Carlton-esque dance called the Fresh.  When a player purchases and downloads the Fresh emote, the player’s avatar can perform the dance move on command. Ribeiro filed suit against Fortnite creator, Epic…

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