Alfonso Riberio told he can't copyright the 'Carlton Dance'
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He'll go down in history as the creator of the "Carlton Dance," but Alfonso Riberio won't be able to make any money off of it.
Riberio made the dance move — typically performed while the Tom Jones classic "It's Not Unusual" plays — famous while starring on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and when two companies included it in their video games, he sued. On Wednesday, the U.S. Copyright Office denied his request to copyright the dance, saying that only a choreographed dance, not some random moves, can be copyrighted, The Associated Press reports.
Riberio is suing Take-Two Interactive, the creators of NBA 2K16, and Epic Games, the developers of Fortnite. Take-Two Interactive filed a motion to dismiss Riberio's lawsuit, and a hearing is set for March 18.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
