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Copyright Office Refuses Registration for 'Fresh Prince' Star Alfonso Ribeiro's "Carlton Dance" (hollywoodreporter.com)
The U.S. Copyright Office is skeptical about Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actor Alfonso Ribeiro's ownership claim over the signature "Carlton Dance," which became famous after a 1991 episode of the Will Smith series. From a report: In correspondence last month that was surfaced on Wednesday in California federal court, Saskia Florence, a supervisory registration specialist in the Office's Performing Arts Division, told Ribeiro's attorney that registration must be refused because his claimed "choreographic work" was a "simple dance routine."
[...] Take-Two Interactive, publisher of the game NBA 2K, is now seizing upon the refusal in support of the argument that movements for the "Carlton Dance" are not protectable. Ribeiro is suing Take-Two as well as the publisher of Fortnite over special features that allow game players to have their avatars perform the dance. In a dismissal brief, Kirkland & Ellis attorney Dale Cendali makes some of the same arguments she did earlier in the week in an attempt to reject a similar lawsuit over Fortnite from the rapper 2 Milly. But there are particular contentions specifically directed at Ribeiro's claim.
[...] Take-Two Interactive, publisher of the game NBA 2K, is now seizing upon the refusal in support of the argument that movements for the "Carlton Dance" are not protectable. Ribeiro is suing Take-Two as well as the publisher of Fortnite over special features that allow game players to have their avatars perform the dance. In a dismissal brief, Kirkland & Ellis attorney Dale Cendali makes some of the same arguments she did earlier in the week in an attempt to reject a similar lawsuit over Fortnite from the rapper 2 Milly. But there are particular contentions specifically directed at Ribeiro's claim.
Take Two's attorneys doing the Carlton Dance as they head into court to get the lawsuit dismissed with prejudice...
Sig Follows: "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain
anyone from here on will be sued and then tarred.
truth+mercy=justice
Being that it is suppose to be a parody of white men dancing, that would probably get really muddy.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
How is it a parody? That dance is the most accurate portrayal of white dancing ever produced.
Not to mention that he admitted in multiple interviews that he stole the dance from the 'Dancing in the Dark' music video. So, even if it WERE copyrightable, he wouldn't be able to do so.
Wait a minute... we can dance?
#DeleteFacebook
Nope.
tl;dr copyright: Dance routines can be copyrighted, IE the choreography of a dance number in a musical, or music video. Dance *moves* cannot be copyrighted.
Depends on your definition of "dance". And your definition of "can". And your interpretation of "we".
Wait a minute... we can dance?
Well . . .
Ah we can dance if we want to, we can leave your friends behind
Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're are no friends of mine I say, we can go where we want to, a place where they will never find
And we can act like we come from out of this world
Leave the real one far behind,
And we can dance
Etc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
But after watching that video . . . maybe we should just leave it be.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Wait a minute... we can dance?
If you want to...
Not to mention that he admitted in multiple interviews that he stole the dance from the 'Dancing in the Dark' music video. So, even if it WERE copyrightable, he wouldn't be able to do so.
He is an actor who was hired to play a character on a TV show. Even if his so-called "dance" is copyrightable, the copyright would belong to NBC who owns the TV show where it was first performed. Of all the stupid, bullshit copyright lawsuits, this is one of the stupidest.
Are you kidding me? that is way batter then I can dance.
Not according to Genesis we can't. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Anonymous comments are as pathetic as the anonymous "sources" that contaminate gutless journalism from the New York Time
The name of the dance could belong to NBC but not the dance itself.
If an actor from a TV show that went off the air 22 years ago can not claim ownership of a brief movement of his body paid for, written, edited, and directed by other people than the entire concept of copyright is broken.
Darn that examiner. It was quick and easy writing a program that iterated over the permutations and combinations of every joint's range of motion of a human armature, clustering and then dumping it to an animation application alongside a script that fills out the application form, generates a check image, and submits it to a manifest mailing firm for printing and enclosure for postal delivery to the Patent Office for copyright protection. $35 million ought to cover it, but the ROI from suing everybody on the planet should be considerable. :- )
... then we go after those damn Hamsters. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WpMlwVwydo )
Not to mention that he admitted in multiple interviews that he stole the dance from the 'Dancing in the Dark' music video. So, even if it WERE copyrightable, he wouldn't be able to do so.
He is an actor who was hired to play a character on a TV show. Even if his so-called "dance" is copyrightable, the copyright would belong to NBC who owns the TV show where it was first performed. Of all the stupid, bullshit copyright lawsuits, this is one of the stupidest.
I agree that it is a stupid lawsuit. However, who would own such a copyright (if it is copyrightable) is debatable. I'm thinking along the lines Dana Carvey and the Church Lady. It is possible for the actor/creator to own rights and not the broadcasting company.
It would be great if the copyright office declared dances copyrightable, and then the DOJ aggressively pursued attendees of wedding receptions for doing the Chicken Dance, the Electric Slide, and the Macarena. Remember, everything copyrightable is protected by default.
Individual dance movements themselves cannot generally be copyrighted as far as I know, although I believe that entire dance performances may be. The "Carlton Dance" is not a specific entire dance, however, it is only a single specific and very simple dance movement. While entire dances can be copyrighted, as far as I am aware, individual dance movements themselves cannot be. That said, this sort of thing might ordinarily fall under trademark protection because it has a specific name associated with it.
But even there, I expect that there is already some danger of trademark dillution in that area, and such protection may be refused on those grounds.
In reality, IP protection for this should have been applied for before the first episode that utilized it had publicly aired. Copyright, however, would never be applicable, because while it might generally be referred to as the "Carlton Dance", it's technically not really a dance, but simply the execution of a particular gesture.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
This.
trying to copyright the head bob.
...everybody look at your pants
Possible yes, but the default absent a signed agreement to the contrary spelling out exactly who owns what or proof of a prior perfomance to establish an earlier first date of publication, would be to consider it a 'work for hire' as he was an actor hired to work on a television show when he performed the dance for said show.
Seems pretty cut and dry, the way you explain it.
Just let it be..
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
but SAFELY....
The issue came up because a video game (a thing for nerds) sold a dance routine as part of the game. The game is free to play, and that game is Fortnite but the dance is being sold.
There's some interesting law discussion with law nerds here too. In other words, the only thing that needs to not exist is your ad hominem.
Actually often actors own the performance of the character.
Only the actual recording is owned by the movie company.
Everything must be owned, and nothing can be spoken, sung, screamed or uttered without payment being made.
Like that dipshit Anish Kapoor who wants everyone in the world to pay him for trying to take a picture of his misshapen blob of art in Chicago.
Look up "vanta black" to see what a shitbag he is.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Fuck off. Your "opinion" is not more valid than anyone else's here.
The fact that you seem to unable to discuss your "opinion" is a reasonable manner simply exposes you as the fraudulent troll that you are.
As to the history of Slashdot, we have long had articles about politics, history, science, society and such since the beginning.
So you are a liar and a fraud.
Now begone, we are done with you.
Donald Trump, on a crusade to make Nixon look respectable
Carlton was imitating the dance from footloose... so this makes no sense.
[($)]
Make yourself comfortable..
Or whoever created the Fresh Prince show? Not Ribiero?
Interviewer: Where did the Carlton dance come from?
Alfonso: Watch that Bruce Springsteen video where he pulls Courtney Cox up on stage. I just do the same dance she did.
He's on the record about the prior art which he copied for the Carlton dance.
I kinda feel bad the for him. Just like everyone else on that show who wasn't Will Smith, he faded into obscurity. He should at least have a reality show of some type, or a cooking show or something.
...with the Electric Slide https://www.publicknowledge.org/news-blog/blogs/electric-slide-really-copyrighted-ill-ask-ban but the guy lucked out.
From that article, as it was published after 1978, it technically can be copyrighted, and you don't have to register the copyright.
I think Take-2 are being a-holes - if they had asked Alfonso for permission, he probabaly would have said "yes, but make it free."