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
Renewable energy tax incentives
and Luke Magerman, Candidate Attorney The draft legislation to give effect to the two renewable energy tax incentives announced in [...]
Breaking the Chains: the Case of Ndwandwe v Trustees of Transnet Retirement Fund and others – A not-so-friendly reminder that a pension fund is not bound by a nomination form
and Karabo Kekana, Candidate Attorney The recent decision of Ndwandwe v Trustees of Transnet Retirement Fund and others[1] (the Ndwandwe [...]
E-waste versus Sustainability: A battle between people, big tech and responsible recycling
A study conducted by the United Nations University in 2019 estimated that approximately 53.6 million metric tonnes of electrical and [...]
The danger of cutting and pasting provisions in your settlement agreements!
On 21 February 2021, the Labour Appeal Court in Wheelwright v CP de Leeuw Johannesburg (Pty) Ltd (2023) 44 [...]
Enhancing Innovation, Technologically
Continuing Werksmans' multi-disciplinary approach in providing our clients with innovative approaches that go beyond the law into wider, business [...]
Mining terminology: the difference between “accepted”, “granted” “executed” and “registered”
Four of the most common words that one hears in conjunction with mining rights, prospecting rights are "accepted", "granted", [...]