NOTEBOOK – One Good Read: A real-world battle over dancing avatars: Did Fortnite steal the Floss?

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It’s a dance battle. Really, the New York Times writes about a copyright issue in the age of gaming and technology-based entertainment. Fortnite, for those who’ve never heard of it, is a hugely popular global online game. It’s free to download but there are lots of add-ons, including “emotes,” or dances such as “the Floss.” The Times writes: “The lawsuits are among several recent cases testing copyright laws that were written in a vastly different technological age. Indeed, as digital animation has become richly vivid and detailed, even who owns the rights to tattoos drawn on athletes’ bodies has become an issue in sports video games. But while there is plenty of case law regarding the copyrighting of songs and written works, there is far less in the record regarding choreography.” For those budding entrepreneurs and creatives, this is a case to watch.