Legal updates and opinions
News / News
Fortnite, Wimbeldon And Tour De France
By Donvay Wegierski, Director
Fanatic or not we will all be familiar with the above, each comprising sport in its own shape and form. Interestingly though the prize money in Epic Game’s Fortnite World Cup 2018/2019 is said to be around US$3.000.000 and tops the major sporting events* prize money being higher than that of Wimbeldon (US$2.980.000), Tour De France (US$580.000), The Indy 500 (US$2530.000), and The Masters (US$1.980.000).
Although Fornite is available to anyone in free-to-play mode a player can either earn or simply buy V-Bucks which is the sale of virtual goodies in the game including costumes, stickers and dance moves. The exact value of these sales is unknown though estimated at US$two billion annually.
With this monetisation, it is no surprise that celebrities including Alfonso Ribeiro better known as Carlton from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Brooklyn Rapper 2 Milly and Instagram’s Backpack Kid have pursued copyright infringement proceedings in relation to some of the dance moves in Fornite. This has raised the question whether you can own the copyright in dance moves. For copyright to subsist in a work, the work should be original and in a material form which in this instance could include texted choreography and video recordings so as to show where the dance originates from.
Latest News
The various departmental functions available during lock-down
By Bronwyn Parker, Senior Associate and Kyra South, AssociateReviewed by Chris Stevens, Director and Head of Mining, Environmental & Resources [...]
Working in a pandemic: what is a safe and healthy workplace?
by Bradley Workman-Davies, Director An employer which has been issued a permit as a provider of essential goods or services [...]
Pension funds distress rules & FSCA operations during lockdown
by Hilah Laskov, Senior Associate and Chelsea Roux, Candidate AttorneyReviewed by Shayne Krige, Director and head of the Investment Funds [...]
South Africa: Closure of the trade marks, designs and patents office during national lock-down
by Janine Hollesen, Director and Donvay Wegierski, Director South Africa is currently in a 21 day national lockdown to combat [...]
Not Today, April fool Protection of Personal Information – South Africa falling further and further behind
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of Data Privacy Practice Group, Werksmans Attorneys and Dale Adams, Candidate Attorney With everyone [...]
Being resilient in these tough economic times is a necessity… practical steps for directors to consider in extra-ordinary times of financial distress!
by Dr. Eric Levenstein, Director and Head of the Business Rescue, Restructuring and Insolvency practice; Nastascha Harduth, Director; and Roxanne [...]

