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The popular dance known as the Milly Rock is currently in the middle of a lawsuit: 2 Milly vs. Epic Game, Inc.
2 Milly (whose legal name is Terrence Ferguson) claims the dance move was used in the popular online game without his permission. He says he invented the Milly Rock dance move back in 2011, it was featured in one of his music videos in 2014, and it took off from there. The dance definitely ‘blew up’! It’s been name-checked in other popular rap songs, it’s been performed on stage by other musicians and it’s been ‘THE’ dance move for countless fans and dancers.
According to 2 Milly’s lawyers, the “unauthorized misappropriation of Ferguson’s highly popular dance craze, the ‘Milly Rock’ in its video game, Fortnite Battle Royale (‘Fortnite’), Epic has unfairly profited from exploiting Ferguson’s protected creative expression and likeness.”
2 Milly says he feels that they took his craft and sold it. The lawsuit is asking for Epic Games to discontinue the dance move featured in Fortnite and for 2 Milly to be paid for its use.
The U.S. Copyright Office says it “cannot register short dance routines consisting of only a few movements or steps with minor linear or spatial variations, even if a routine is novel or distinctive.” One of 2 Milly’s lawyers says, there is, however, protection for “choreographic works” defined in part as “a series of dance movements or patterns organized into an integrated, coherent, and expressive compositional whole.” This isn’t just an imitation he says, “this is a deliberate copy.”
2 Milly’s lawyers lists other black artists whose dance moves have allegedly been copied by Fornite as well, including Snoop Dogg, Will Smith and Alfonso Ribeiro. Chance The Rapper had also been critical of Fortnite in the past (July 2018), noting that Fortnite does not play original music from black artists whose dancing had inspired moves in the video game.
Take a look at the video below to see for yourself.
For the full story and more video clips showing the dance move, see here: Washington Post – Milly Rock and Fortnite
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