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
Sports Betting Opportunity: Mpumalanga Economic Regulator Invites Proposals for Bookmaker Licences
Introduction The Mpumalanga Economic Regulator has published a notice that it intends to invite proposals for Bookmaker Licences in terms [...]
Watt You Need to Know on the draft Electricity Transmission Infrastructure Regulations
by Jonathan Behr, Director, and Robyn Helling, Candidate Attorney The draft regulations to facilitate planning for the procurement and establishment [...]
No Claim? No Problem. Rethinking Creditor Rights in Insolvency Law
A recent judgment handed down in the Johannesburg High Court in Single Destination Engineering (Pty) Ltd and Another v Van [...]
The Balancing Act: The Sharing of Company Information by Exiting Shareholders with Potential Third-Party Purchasers
and Emma Reid, Candidate Attorney INTRODUCTION The default position regarding who can access a company's records and information ("company information") [...]
Court Orders Gauteng Department of Health to Provide Cancer Treatment to Patients Awaiting Care
and Slade van Rooyen - Candidate Attorney and Farah Yassin - Candidate Attorney On 27 March 2025, the Gauteng Local [...]
Allegations of Ethnic Discrimination Require Evidence: the Sagan Principle
and Isabella Keeves - Candidate Attorney In 1979 science communicator and physicist Carl Sagan wrote in his book Broca's Brain [...]