When you think about things having a copyright, what probably comes to mind are movies, music, books—really anything that has a well-documented history of piracy or plagiarism. Because that’s what copyrights are for: to promote the creation of original work by giving those creators the ability to make money from their efforts without fear of someone else reproducing it without their permission or any payment.
那么，舞蹈动作呢？
In the vast history of dances that have had cultural impact—”The Macarena,” the hustle, the running man, the electric slide, the cha cha slide—none of them have been copyrighted. If those moves seem too simple to warrant a copyright, what can be said of the work of choreographers such as Michael Peters (“Thriller”), Anthony Thomas (“Rhythm Nation”), Brian Friedman (“I’m a Slave 4 U”), or Laurieann Gibson (“Bad Romance”)?
版权编排并非不可能，但是从历史上看，在芭蕾舞或现代舞蹈等更传统的形式中赢得法律保护会更容易。
但是贾奎尔·奈特（Jaquel Knight）正在努力以同样的眼光看音乐视频和社交媒体编舞。
奈特（Knight）已成为娱乐界的领先的编舞和创意导演之一，与梅根·泰（Megan Thee）种马，Cardi B，N.E.R.D.和Victoria Monet合作。
His work with Beyoncé is what helped set in motion his initiative to protect not only his own work, but also the work of the choreographers and dancers coming behind him. In 2020, Knight successfully secured a copyright for his choreography in Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” music video.
“这是一个过程，”奈特在2020德赢提款interview。“有时真的很讨厌。它变得非常黑，但这是一个过程，因为它是新事物，而且在这个商业环境中我们从未见过。”
The law in this realm is nowhere up to speed with culture. Getting it there is proving to be a painstaking process. But what Knight and the team around him are doing could write a new history of ownership for creators—and specifically creators of color.
An Epic situation
律师大卫·赫希特（David L. Hecht）帮助骑士驾驶版权舞的合法性。
赫希特（HechtFortnite。
Hecht says that 2 Milly’s concern was about more than just any windfall he might have received ifFortnite有许可在游戏中使用的“米利岩”（Milly Rock）Fortnite。赫希特在最新一集中说：“ 2米莉真的不太在谈论他所欠的钱，而更多地谈论这是如何重命名的。”德赢提款‘s podcast创意控制。“And so what upset me and upset him in seeing this was people were no longer calling the dance ‘The Milly Rock.’ They were starting to call it the ‘Swipe It,’ because that’s what Epic called it.”
Hecht filed a lawsuit on 2 Milly’s behalf against Epic in 2018, and he soon found himself representing other entertainers who had similar claims. Alfonso Ribeiro, best known as Carlton fromThe Fresh Prince of Bel-Air，指控这一点Fortnite将演出中的标志性舞蹈纳入游戏中。他相信Fortnite名为“ Fresh”的舞蹈表演是数字化版本的舞蹈版本，被称为“ Carlton”。罗素·霍宁（Russell Horning），又名背包小子，以舞蹈举动“牙线”风靡一时，他认为它也已经进入Fortnite没有他的授权。演员唐纳德·法森（Donald Faison）犯规，比赛中的另一个表情与他在演出中淘汰的舞蹈举动有着强烈的相似之处磨砂和he had not been consulted or compensated.
“Sometimes, in my experience, companies with money, including big tech, they just don’t care, because they figure they can pay the lawyers,” Hecht says. “So, it is really David versus Goliath out there. That was actually part of the reason I think they chose to do what they did and target the people that they did. Because for the most part—and this is just my opinion—but a lot of my clients who were going after Epic were African American.”
“这是一个问题，”赫希特继续说道。“司法公正是一个巨大的问题。”
史诗般的律师argued in a motion to dismissin February 2019 that “No one can own a dance step. Copyright law is clear that individual dance steps and simple dance routines are not protected by copyright, but rather are building blocks of free expression, which are in the public domain for choreographers, dancers, and the general public to use, perform, and enjoy.”
2 Milly dropped the lawsuit in March 2019 after a Supreme Court ruling that basically stated that people cannot sue for copyright infringement unless there’s an approved copyright for the intellectual property in question.
但是，2 Milly的诉讼和周围的媒体报道确实提出了一个问题，没有足够的人问：您如何版权地进行舞蹈动作？
The delicate dance of copyright
根据美国版权办公室的说法website，“可注册编排工作通常旨在由熟练的表演者在听众面前执行。”
自然，关于谁被定义为熟练的表演者，以及在数字时代的观众构成的问题。从历史上看，该法律分别是芭蕾舞和现代舞蹈的开拓者，例如乔治·巴兰奇（George Balanchine）和玛莎·格雷厄姆（Martha Graham）等编舞者的作品。但是2米莉的诉讼反对Fortnite以及其他人说明了版权法在视频游戏，音乐视频和社交媒体中考虑编排的必要性。
As noted above, the argument againstFortnite符合版权持有人的权利的情绪是，所讨论的舞蹈太简单了。目前的法律清楚地表明，“单个运动或舞蹈步骤本身是不可版权的，例如基本的华尔兹步骤，喧嚣步骤，葡萄藤或古典芭蕾舞团的第二位置”，在一定程度上是可以理解的。编舞的大部分是较小的舞蹈动作的融合，因此解析它会很棘手。
However, when you combine those “simple” dances with the right of publicity, which prevents the unauthorized commercial use of someone’s name, image, likeness, or other recognizable aspects of one’s persona, where does that leave a dance like “The Milly Rock,” “The Carlton,” or “The Floss” that are so clearly tied to particular public figures?
赫希特说：“客户与我联系，因为他们在互联网上闻名或做在互联网上受欢迎的事情，在某些方面[宣传权]根据[某些]州法律保护了他们。”
Even if seeking copyright protection is a thornier path for certain choreographers, Hecht notes that it’s not a total wash.
赫希特说：“我会告诉创意人[]您可以从中取出一件积极的事情，这是任何人都可以（至少试图]注册编排。”
每当有问题的艺术形式固定在有形的媒介中，例如，您无法获得绘画的想法，而只有物理绘画本身就无法版权，就会存在版权的潜力。舞蹈的切实媒介包括labanotation，在编排工作中详细的身体运动详细分解。但是这个过程可能很昂贵。还可以选择提交视频中录制的舞蹈。但是，就音乐视频而言，这可能很棘手。
像“单身女士”这样的音乐视频是版权提交的理想典范，因为例行程序的整体上很少显示，几乎没有编辑或剪切。赫希特指出：“但这不是大多数音乐视频的制作方式。”“大多数人都像迈克尔·湾（Michael Bay）的动作电影，就像一秒钟的剪辑，没有广角，紧密的角度，所有这些不同的角度。而且您看不到完整的编舞。”
贾奎尔·奈特（Jaquel Knight）雇用某人为“单身女士”进行labanotation，并提交了音乐视频的最终版本，也提交了录音室参考副本，以获得良好的程度。所有这些导致奈特在2020年获得了“单身女士”编舞的版权。
现在，这是将这种势头带入社交媒体的问题。
接管Tiktok
Without question, TikTok has become synonymous with dance.
在您的页面上，很难滚动到您的页面上的几个视频，而不会遇到某人进行某种舞蹈挑战的人，这很可能是由颜色的舞者创建的。一次又一次发生的事情是，那些BIPOC创造者在舞动传播时没有获得荣誉。
Jalaiah Harmon was just 14 years old when she created the viral “Renegade” dance to rapper K Camp’s song “Lottery.” In an interview with夜线去年，她当时表达了自己的情绪。
“我很高兴人们这样做。但是我同时感到沮丧，因为他们并没有真正给我我的赞誉。”她说。“如果我看到有人在跳舞，我会说出评论说，Hey this is mine, this is my dance，但没有人会相信我。”
Tiktok的吸引力及其内容的重要部分是为了重新混合他人的内容。但是，谁能责怪创作者在没有任何适当信誉的情况下获得货币化时感觉像哈蒙的感觉呢？
实际上，这是导致Ichnology Company Logitech与Jaquel Knight接触的原因。
Logitech的全球娱乐和创造者营销负责人Meridith Rojas说：“许多创作者中的真正沮丧感，他们的作品被采用，使用和不可归功于。”“我们看到了这个非常有趣的相似之处：如果我们可以将Jaquel与他的商业编舞与创作者所做的事情联系起来，该怎么办？”
去年夏天，Logitech和Knight帮助10位BIPOC创建者获得了编排版权。这些创作者中有两个是ShaynéAbram和ZhanéMiller，又名Nae Nae Twins，他们在2020年的编舞中传播给Megan Thee Stallion的“ Savage”以Beyoncé为特色的“ Savage”。虽然流行病毒导致与耐克，亚马逊，芬蒂和Uber等主要品牌合作，但其舞蹈动作的版权过程正在为他们提供更深入的影响。
@naenaetwinsofficial 不确定为什么@tiktok击倒了。＃野蛮的#savageremixchallenge#savageremix#BeyHive#MegtheEstalllion#Beyonce＃舞蹈#twins(dc: us)
“I think it made us appreciate [dance] more,” Abram says. “Creating felt like a hobby or just something to do for fun. But now when you look at it being like copywritten, you think, ‘Oh wow, our work is being seen and it’s being acknowledged.’ It’s very motivating.”
Nae Nae双胞胎仍在进行文档过程。明确的是，他们的目的是保护他们的工作免受彻底的商业剥削，而不是警察舞蹈挑战。（标题中的简单荣誉将很棒。）
也就是说，他们感谢当前的对话可能会激发有色人种的创造者的势头。
@naenaetwinsofficial
“我希望黑人创作者得到更多的认可，为他们所做的所有辛勤工作获得更多机会，因为这并不容易。。。好吧，“野蛮”混音很容易！”米勒说。“但这是我们到达那里所做的工作。你必须坚持不懈。您必须致力于这一点。”
这就是这个问题的根源：为了帮助创建者，尤其是Bipoc创作者，至少要考虑以更实质性的方式考虑自己的艺术。除了创作者之外，所有的黑人文化都被赋予了所有人的经济利益。正如奈特（Knight）在2020年提到的那样，这是一个“讨厌”和“黑暗”的过程，但是今天的这种艰苦的推动可能意味着明天的创作者的机会。