Over the years, Fortnite has found itself in hot water for adding in-character dances that bear striking similarity to ones created by professional dancers, and it’s happening yet again. Felix Burgos is suing the video game over alleged theft of a dance he choreographed for Puerto Rican singer Rauw Alejandro’s 2024 song “Touching The Sky.”
Not long after Alejandro’s song was released, NME reports, Fortnite dropped the “Touching The Sky” emote as part of their Icon Series. The emote was made available for players to buy for 500 V-Bucks. However, Burgos says he never gave the game’s developers, Epic Games, permission to use the dance on their platform, and he also pointed out that he registered the “Touching The Sky” choreography soon after the song was released.
“Epic’s brazen infringement of the Registered Choreography is undeniable,” states Burgos’ lawsuit, via Rolling Stone. The suit alleges that Epic Games “did not seek to obtain Burgos’ authorisation or consent” to use the choreography, and has yet to pay him for doing so.
“Epic made a fortune from unlawfully and unfairly misappropriating Burgos’s and other artists’ creative expression and likeness without crediting or compensating these artists,” the lawsuit adds. “Burgos thus brings this lawsuit to prevent Fortnite from further using his Registered Choreography, and to recover the profits rightfully owed to him.”
The lawsuit also points out that this is not the first time Epic Games has been accused of plagiarizing viral dance moves for in-game emotes. Rapper 2 Milly accused the company of doing the same thing to him in 2018, and both The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s Alfonso Ribeiro and choreographer Kyle Hanagami took legal action against Epic over their own respective dances.
In fact, this is not the first time this year the company has been taken to court over allegations of ripping off these dances. In April, TikTok creator Kelley Heyer reportedly took legal action against Epic Games over a dance she created for Charli XCX’s viral “Apple” dance trend.
“Because of the lawsuits, Epic began to approach some artists about licensing choreography. However, on further information and belief, Epic typically approaches young and/or less sophisticated artists, like those who are catapulted to fame on social media platforms like TikTok, about licensing choreography for pennies on the dollar,” Burgos’ lawyer said in a statement.
“Burgos, a sophisticated businessman and established choreographer who is aware of the value of his choreography generally and the Registered Choreography specifically, was never approached by Epic about a license,” the attorney added.
At this time, Epic Games does not appear to have commented on the new lawsuit.
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