Jared Nickens, Jaylen Brantley's Lawsuit over Fortnite Dance Dismissed by Judge

U.S. District Judge Paul Grimm dismissed a lawsuit filed by former Maryland Terrapins basketball players Jared Nickens and Jaylen Brantley against Epic Games, the creator of the smash-hit video game Fortnite, related to the alleged copyright infringement of their "Running Man Challenge" dance.

Grimm ruled Monday that Nickens and Brantley, who sought more the $5 million in damages, didn't prove their claim was "qualitatively different" than Epic Games' rights covered by the Copyright Act, per Michael Kunzelman of the Associated Press.

"And here Plaintiffs claim is based on Epic Games allegedly 'capturing and digitally copying' the Running Man dance to create the Fortnite emote that 'allows the player's avatars to execute the Running Man identically to Plaintiffs' version.' This is squarely within the rights protected by the Copyright Act," Grimm wrote.

The players performed the dance, which became a viral video and led to an appearance on the The Ellen DeGeneres Show, in 2016. It was added to Fortnite in 2018 as part of the Season 6 battle pass.

Nickens and Brantley filed the lawsuit in February 2019.

"Plaintiffs seek to place the same square peg into eight round holes in search of a cause of action against Epic Games for its use of the Running Man dance in its game Fortnite. But Plaintiffs' claims that Epic Games copied the dance do not support any of their theories," Grimm wrote, per Kunzelman.

Other individuals, including actor Alfonso Ribeiro, rapper 2 Milly and the "Orange Shirt Kid," who created the orange justice dance, have attempted to file similar lawsuits against Epic Games for turning dances they popularized into emotes. They all dropped their lawsuits in March 2019.

Fortnite officially introduced its battle royale mode in late 2017, and by the following summer the third-person shooter was dominating the competition in downloads, active players and online viewership via live-stream services like Twitch.

It's a free-to-play game, but cosmetics and other items like emotes, which provide no competitive advantage, are available for sale using in-game currency called V-Bucks ($10 equates to 1,000 V-Bucks).

The seasonal battle pass costs 950 V-Bucks, while other things can be purchased through a daily item shop, with prices typically ranging from 200 to 2,000 V-Bucks.

Fortnite recently created a line called the Icon Series, which has featured officially licensed items such as a character skin of popular streamer Ninja and a "Toosie Slide" emote with in-game lyrics from the Drake song.

Richard Jaklitsch, the former Terps players' lawyer, told the Associated Press his clients may not be able to afford to appeal Monday's ruling.