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
Why failing to revise land policy will fail aspiration of millions
The need for land expropriation must be characterised and understood as being foremost about social justice and a constitutional imperative. [...]
Bye bye FSB, hello FSCA
As of 1 April 2018, there is a new sheriff for the South African financial services sector. The Financial Services [...]
Further tightening of Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment rules proposed by Minister of Trade and Industry
On 29 March 2018, the Minister of Trade and Industry published draft amendments to the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment [...]
Nando’s vs Fernando’s
Nando's Chicken Limited is the proprietor of at least thirty nine UK trade marks and recently served a letter of [...]
Cryptocurrencies and tax
The advent of cryptocurrencies, and in particular the substantial gains that are associated with investments in cryptocurrencies, caught the attention [...]
Adidas and the stripes
By: Donvay Wegierski, Director In 2015, Adidas successfully opposed the registration of two EU marks comprising two stripes belonging to Shoe [...]

