The Verge: The US Copyright Office refused to register The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star Alfonso Ribeiro’s “Carlton dance” routine, likely weakening lawsuits against two game studios that copied the dance. In new legal filings, Take-Two Interactive produced letters and emails from the Copyright Office, showing serious concern over whether the dance qualified for copyright protection and, if it could, whether Ribeiro even owned the rights.
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1 comment:
I watched a great video summing up how this dance could be copyrighted, and how the lawsuit could be defended against as well. The video also covered the history of copyright law and how it has as evolved with the media. Copyright law is constantly being expanded to cover more intellectual property as new mediums are created or being considered more legitimate. I feel like this dance is simple and short enough that it can be considered outside of copyright laws. It had also been argued that the Carlton did not even originate on Fresh Prince. If the Carlton were to be copyrighted, so would the "floss" or "backpack kid dance" which is literally a meme. The Carlton arguably was also an early meme. I personally think it would be a bit ridiculous to copyright memes, but who knows. Maybe that will become a common law suit not so far in the future. It would not surprise me in the slightest.
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