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 Importance Of Having A Justifiable Reason For Fixed Term Employment
By Andre van Heerden, Senior Associate and Chelsea Roux, Candidate AttorneyReviewed by Jacques van Wyk, Director ISSUE Whether the termination [...]
Fringe Benefit Resulting From The Payment By An Employer For The Provision Of Tax Consulting Services To Its Expatriate Employees
By Erich Bell, Director In the recent case of BMW South Africa (Pty) Ltd v The Commissioner for the South [...]
When Is A Final Award Final?
By Pierre Burger, Director One of the cardinal sins an arbitration tribunal can commit is to deliver a final award [...]
The Case Of Copy-cat Packaging
By Janine Hollesen, Director, Head of Intellectual Property Practice Not only must a manufacturer of products consider whether the packaging [...]
POPIA and RICA – ACRONYMS AND PRIVACY
By Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Head of Data Privacy Practice In digital era, privacy must be a priority. Is it just me, [...]
Imminent Changes to US Immigration Program
There has been a lot of recent media attention surrounding the EB-5 Investment Visa Program, and for good reason. South [...]

