Rapper 2 Milly has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Epic Games. The reason for that is the Fortnite “Swipe It” emote which is based on 2 Milly’s dance move. According to the filing, “Although identical to the dance created, popularized, and demonstrated by Ferguson, Epic did not credit Ferguson nor seek his consent to use, display, reproduce, sell, or create a derivative work based upon Ferguson’s Milly Rock dance or likeness.”
The emote costs $5 and it is also included in the Season 5 Battle Pass. “I was never compensated by Epic Games for their use of the ‘Milly Rock. They never even asked for my permission. I am thrilled to have David Hecht and his team at Pierce Bainbridge representing me to help right this wrong,” explained the rapper.
What are the requirements?
It is hard to tell whether his dance move will be covered under copyright law. If we take a look at the USCO requirements, we can see that the rapper’s dance move could qualify for some of them. You can read USCO’s guidelines for Copyright Registration of Choreography and Pantomime below:
To qualify for registration, a choreographic work or pantomime must be fixed in a tangible medium of expression in such a way that reveals the movements in sufficient detail to permit the work to be performed in a consistent and uniform manner.
Individual movements or dance steps by themselves are not copyrightable, such as the basic waltz step, the hustle step, the grapevine, or the second position in classical ballet.
At the moment the rapper is trying to register a copyright on the dance move with the US Copyright Office (USCO). It is hard to say whether he will succeed or not, but it will definitely be interesting to watch this unfold.
Nora Reynolds is a major in biology and a minor in Biological Basis of Behavior, writing about science in general. She also likes to try new gadgets and sports about the AI new era.
