Revived Fortnite Dance Suit Explores Rare Use of Copyright Law

A choreographer who’s worked with Jennifer Lopez and Justin Bieber got the Ninth Circuit to dance to his beat, possibly opening new doors in copyright law.

Epic Games Inc. will have to defend against Kyle Hanagami’s claim that the “It’s Complicated” dance move from its popular Fortnite video game stole choreography he created for a Charlie Puth music video. A lower court wrongly reduced the two-second sequence to eight unprotectable “poses” and found it too short to protect, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held.

The ruling lays down new circuit law that brevity doesn’t necessarily doom ...