Just earlier this month, Epic Games was sued by rapper 2 Milly for its use of his well-known Milly Rock dance move in Fortnite. Now, the Fresh Prince of Bel Air star Alfonso Ribeiro, who played Carlton Banks in the '90s sitcom, is accusing the game's creators of using his character's popular dance move without permission or compensation.

Ribeiro filed a lawsuit against Fortnite studio Epic Games, seeking unspecified damages related to its use of his "iconic intellectual property". The actor accused the video game creator of "exploiting African-American talent."

The downloadable dance, which Fortnite calls "Fresh", came out in January of 2018. Given Fortnite's revenue made from microtransactions on mobile alone, it's likely Epic Games has made a substantial sum selling the "Fresh" emote as downloadable content. In the legal filings, Ribeiro says he was neither compensated nor asked permission for the use of the colloquially named "Carlton Dance."

Fortnite 'Fresh' emote

The Fresh Prince actor is joining an ever-growing chorus of voices expressing distaste toward Epic Games for profiting off of pop culture references without compensating the creatives they're referencing. Along with rapper 2 Milly and actor Alfonso Ribeiro, Chance the Rapper expressed his frustration with Fortnite on Twitter, urging Epic to share the wealth with the "black creatives" who influence the various dances Fortnite adds as purchasable emotes.

Unfortunately for some of these creators, because the dances aren't actually copyrighted, proceeding with these lawsuits can become tricky. For that reason, both 2 Milly and Ribeiro are in the process of obtaining copyrights for their respective dance moves, in hopes of preventing a situation like this from occurring again in the future.

As it so happens, disputes over intellectual property relating to dance moves isn't Epic Games' only legal concern. Recently, the creator of a popular meme sought legal advice with regards to Fortnite's use of his apparent intellectual property. The viral moth meme is the clear inspiration for a set of Fortnite items, and the man behind the meme is looking for options to get compensation for his original work.

Fortnite is available now on Android, iOS, PC, PlayStation 4, Switch, and Xbox One.

Source: TMZ