Update 2/15: Fresh Prince of Bel Air star Alfonso Ribeiro’a lawsuit against Fortnite for the inclusion of the famous “Carlton Dance” in the battle royale game has hit a major snag, as the U.S. Copyright Office has called into question his attempts to copyright the dance.

In a letter posted by The Hollywood Reporter, Saskia Florence of the Copyright Office’s Arts Division, said Ribeiro’s copyright request should be refused on the basis of the dance being “a simple dance routine.”

“The combination of these three dance steps is a simple routine that is not registrable as a choreographic work,” the letter readers after laying out the specific movements. Florence then follows up this description by refusing the registration claim.

Another letter from the Copyright Office even calls into question Ribeiro’s authorship of the dance, as he submitted his performance of it from Dancing With the Stars as evidence. The Copyright Office suggested because the show normally involves its professional dancers in choreographing performances, this actually calls into question

And, as also noted by THR, the law firm representing both Epic Games and Take-Two, who is involved in the lawsuit due to the dance’s use in the NBA 2K series, responded, saying “This lawsuit suffers from a host of issues ranging from a lack of plausible ownership, to a lack of substantial similarity, to preemption by the Copyright Act.”

Update 12/18: Another individual has joined Alfonso Ribeiro in suing Epic Games for copying their famous dances.

Per the Daily Mail, the 16-year-old Backpack Kid (Russell Horning) is suing Epic Games for using his move, “The Floss” as an emote in the game. Though it is a one-time special reward made available in Battle Pass Season 2, players can’t actually purchase the move. The lawsuit has reportedly been filed by his mother on his behalf on Monday seeking unspecified damages against Epic games and Take Two, for its use in Fortnite and NBA 2K without permission or paying royalties.

Horning and The Floss became famous after he posted videos of himself performing the dance on Instagram, and reached a wider audience when he did the move during Katy Perry’s performance of Swish Swish on SNL in 2017.

Source: The Daily Mail

The original story follows:

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star Alfonso Ribeiro has filed a lawsuit against Epic Games for allegedly copying his signature dance.

According to TMZ, Ribeiro’s lawsuit claims that Fornite’s  Fresh emote is a direct copy of the famous Carlton dance from the hit sitcom. Ribeiro’s attorney told TMZ that Epic Games failed to ask Ribeiro’s permission in creating the emote and has not compensated the actor.

Ribeiro has also filed an identical suit against 2K Games, which makes the NBA 2K series of games. As GQ has pointed out, Ribeiro himself has claimed that Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark and Eddie Murphy’s stand-up routine inspired the dance.

This isn’t the first time that Fortnite has come under scrutiny for an emote. Scrubs actor Donald Faison recently said Fortnite “jacked” his Poison dance for another one of the game’s emotes. Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence said that someone from Epic did reach out to him about using Faison’s choreography.

Recently, the rapper 2 Milly filed suit against Fortnite for copying his dance, the Milly Rock. His lawsuit is asking for damages based on Epic’s profits in selling the emote.

IGN has reached out to Epic Games for comment.

Michael Domanico is a freelance writer. Follow him on Twitter.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – NFCA Executive Director Carol Bruggeman with the support of the Board of Directors is pleased to announce the hiring of Annie Heskett as the Association’s Events and Outreach Specialist.

Heskett becomes a full-time NFCA team member after joining the Association last May as an intern. In her new role, she will develop and enhance NFCA outreach programs, which are designed to enhance current member experience and create new member growth. Additionally, Heskett is responsible for the execution and administration of the NFCA awards and scholarship programs, while assisting in various roles with the events and membership teams. 

“From the first day Annie joined the NFCA Team as an intern, I knew she was something special,” said Bruggeman. “Annie was a tireless worker who wanted to learn all she could about the NFCA. She is intelligent, passionate, and a true team player.  Annie will continue to make an impact on our organization in a variety of ways, as she possesses a vast skill set.” 

No stranger to the world of softball, Heskett played two years at Butte College before transferring to perennial Division II power UC San Diego and donning the Tritons’ uniform, helping the squad to a 2012 national runner-up finish. While attending Butte and UCSD, Heskett earned an associate degree in university studies and a bachelor’s degree in literature and writing.

Following graduation, the Portola, Calif. native moved back to Northern California to begin her coaching career at Feather River College as a two-year assistant alongside wife and husband coaching tandem Meredith and Marco Aragon. 

“As an added bonus, she was a successful high school, travel ball, NJCAA, and Division II softball player and now is a high school coach,” said Bruggeman. “She truly understands and wants to grow all levels of the sport and is very deserving of her new opportunity.”

Heskett, who ventured to Louisville in 2015, will graduate in May with a master’s degree in sports administration from the University of Louisville. Additionally, she worked in the University’s compliance office as an Adidas intern and is currently an assistant softball coach at South Oldham High School.

BIDDEFORD, Maine — Canadians are known as friendly folks, but these crabby brutes migrating from Canadian waters to coastal Maine are better suited for the hockey rink.

Green crabs from Nova Scotia are the same species as their cousins that already inhabit Maine waters, but are ornerier and angrier, threatening to accelerate harm to the coastal ecosystem by gobbling up soft-shell clams and destroying native eel grass, a researcher said.

The docile green crabs shrink from a threat, while the newcomers are more apt to wave their pincers and charge.

“What we’re seeing is this insane level of aggressiveness,” said Markus Frederich, a professor at the University of New England.

New level of aggressiveness

They’re each genetically distinct.

The new crab variant that originated in northern Europe is hardier and adapted to colder water than the more docile crab, which originally came from southern Europe.

Green crabs, even the docile ones, are considered a scourge that can devour soft-shell and juvenile clams. They can destroy eelgrass that provides a hiding place for juvenile sea creatures.

But the Canadian crabs take it to a new level.

Louis Logan, a University of New England graduate student, had the unpleasant task of labelling the crabs captured from Nova Scotia waters for the research.

The crabs were in no mood for games.

At a distance of 1.5 metres, the pint-sized brutes, which measure 10 to 12 centimetres across, assumed a fighting posture. Those that grabbed him were in no hurry to let go.

“Any time I went down to grab one they went to grab me instead,” he wrote in an email.

One of them, in particular, would jump out of the water in its frenzy to attack.

In the lab, researchers unleashed both types of crabs on a bed of eelgrass in a saltwater pool, and the difference was stark. The Canadian invaders shredded the eel grass like Edward Scissorhands in their efforts to scarf down marine organisms seeking refuge, Frederich said.

The first round of study focused on 200 crabs from Canada, and will be published in coming months.

Further studies will focus on whether a specific gene plays a role in the aggressiveness or if a factor called hybrid vigour is in play, he said. The hybrid vigour theory suggests that crabs could be more aggressive as they establish themselves, but will mellow out later.

The quarrelsome newcomers currently comprise only about 2 to 3 per cent of green crabs crawling on the ocean floor off Maine, but those numbers are certain to grow, Frederich said.

“It will be an entirely different ball game,” he predicted. “It’s just a question of when more of the crabs come and out-compete the Maine green crabs.”

The docile green crabs have been around for more than a century in New England waters, but they’ve emerged as a major problem as the Gulf of Maine has warmed. The feistier crabs arrived off Nova Scotia in the 1980s, and currents brought their larvae southward into New England waters.

Eventually, the newcomers will move farther southward. “We can’t do anything about it,” he said. “The only thing that we can do is learn how to live with it.

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EA’s new battle royale shooter Apex Legends has reached 25 million total players since its debut last week.

An update on the official EA website from Respawn Entertainment CEO Vince Zampella announced the news of the milestone, which also notes that the game hosted two million concurrent players during its peak over the weekend.

During its first three days, Apex Legends drew in 10 million players, 2.5 million of which were during the first day.

The update also touches on a few upcoming events for the game including the Twitch Rivals Apex Legend Challenge, Valentine’s Day celebrations, and the commencement of the first season.

The Twitch Rivals Apex Legend Challenge will run on February 12 and 19, and will feature some of the most popular Twitch streamers competing in game.

Valentine’s Day will see specially themed loot available for a limited time and March will ring in the beginning of Season One.

Despite some people missing older school battle royale games, we think it’s pretty great according to our Apex Legends review in progress.

If you want some help becoming a champion of the arena, make sure to check out our Apex Legends wiki which includes supply crate locations, best squad combos, and 26 essential tips.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly compared Apex Legends’ total player count to Fortnite’s concurrent player count. IGN regrets this error and the above article has been updated.

Hope Corrigan is an Australian freelance writer for IGN who likes to play Lifeline. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Listen: David Lewis-Peart reflects on the need for a conversation about Black men. Music: Driftnote. Audio editing: Omar Rivero. Audiograms: Al Donato.

In process. Ever-changing. Vulnerable. Sensitive. Confusing. Loaded. Beautiful. Evasive.

Policed.

Fragile. Diverse. Dynamic. Persecuted. Constrained. And, misunderstood.

These are just some of the responses I received when I asked the not-so-simple question: What is Black masculinity?

My name is David Lewis-Peart, and nearly a year ago, I was invited to write a short article for HuffPost Canada about this very topic.

The plan was, I would speak to a small group of men in the Black community from across a spectrum of experience, and write up a tidy summation. Well, a couple interviews gradually became 12, and what began as an assumedly easy dive became a rather deep one fairly quickly. A year later, here we are.

We need to talk about masculinity, and how it’s experienced by Black men, in a fulsome way. For me, this exploration is not an impersonal one. As a queer Black man, I too have been sitting with these same questions recently, and how my own notions of Blackness and manhood, both conscious and unconscious, find life in myself, my work and my world — in both helpful and not-so helpful ways.

I also see how this fuller conversation requires room for nuance and complexity, candour and care, and of course, work — more work than sensational headlines and siloed and reactive commentary on social media can provide.

So, to continue the conversation, in this four-part series for HuffPost Canada, we’ll hear from a number of Black men on what masculinity means to them, what they have learned or are in the process of unlearning, and how Black manhood reimagined has presented itself in their lives and work.

Part I:

• Brandon Hay: The Space For Healing
• Jah Grey: The Sharing Of Joy
• Travoy Deer: The Need For Love

SALEM, Va. — 2009 national champion Messiah rolled to a run-shortened victory Saturday night to become the first team to reach the best-of-three championship series at the 2016 NCAA Division III Finals at the James I. Moyer Sports Complex.

The (47-4) Falcons get a day off as they await the winner of Sunday’s extra bracket game at 10 a.m. between 2015 national runner-up Texas-Tyler and St. John Fisher — the third meeting of those two squads this week.

Meanwhile, Emory and Massachusetts Institute of Technology were eliminated earlier on Saturday to drop the eight original teams to just three.

Messiah 9, Rowan 1 (6 innings)

Erin Cressman and Brooke Pompeo homered and the Falcons played great defense behind — and including — NFCA All-American Courtney Allen to oust the (41-11) Profs and assure themselves at least a national runner-up finish.

Allen allowed four hits and one run over the first 4.1 innings, benefitting from two outstanding catches in center field by Amber Bingaman. Allen herself promptly made an over-the-shoulder diving catch in center field after Madelyn Yannetti took over in the circle and Bingaman slid over to right field.

Amanda Jones had three hits, including a triple, and Cressman drove in four runs for Messiah.

Four players had one hit apiece in the loss for Rowan.

St. John Fisher 1, Texas-Tyler 0

Two-time All-American Lindsey Thayer tossed her second shutout of the day, limiting the powerful (46-5) Patriots to just three hits while fanning seven to give her 21 strikeouts for her two games Saturday. In all, Thayer made 215 pitches (150 for strikes) over 14 innings, allowing two runs and four hits.

Batterymate Karlie Neale led off the top of the seventh with a homer to left center to snap a scoreless tie.

Texas-Tyler starter Kelsie Batten, a four-time All-American, pitched plenty well enough to win, allowing just five hits over seven innings while walking none and striking out nine.

St. John Fisher 1, MIT 0

Sophomore Thayer struck out 14 in an one-hit gem to reach 750 for her Cardinal career in just her second season.

Neale had two hits, while Lauren Owens doubled in Sarah Kubik in the fourth for the game’s lone run.

Katherine Shade provided the only hit for the (34-14) Engineers with one out in the fifth and Lexi Marshall fanned four and allowed five hits in the loss.

Rowan 7, Emory 4

MacKenzie Juodaitis won her second game of the week and Allison Nolan collected her save, as the Profs set a school record for wins in a season (41) by eliminating Emory.

First team All-American Ashley DeYoung hit a game-tying two-run homer in the bottom of the first and Damariz Mercado doubled home two more in a three-run Rowan third.

Ashley Powers doubled twice among her three hits, Alyssa Pollard added two hits and Janelle Turnquest drove in two in the loss for the (46-8) Eagles.

Keep track of all the action with our NCAA Division III Softball Championship Tournament Central by clicking HERE

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The NFCA has added two new ways to recognize member coaches this year — The Humanitarian Award and the Diversity Committee Convention Grant — and now accepting nominations until August 1.

The Humanitarian Award will honor an NFCA member coach who has selflessly dedicated his or her time toward the long-term betterment of the community and/or engaged in charitable activities in the service of others.

The 2016 Diversity Committee Convention Grant covers registration for the NFCA National Convention in New Orleans and includes a stipend to reimburse up to $1,500 in travel and lodging costs for the honoree. The recipient must be a minority coach who promotes diversity, is service oriented and active in the fastpitch community.

Existing awards include the Mary Nutter Scholarship, Donna Newberry “Perseverance” Award and Easton/ Assistant Coach of the Year honors for each membership category.

For all these awards, appropriate details and supporting documentation is required to be submitted and recipients must be NFCA members. Visit NFCA.org and access application forms through your Coach’s Box.

Donna Newberry “Perseverance” Award
Recognizes an NFCA member coach who has demonstrated extraordinary strength of will and character in the fight to overcome a physical, mental, or social adversity that presented an additional challenge to the already demanding job of a coach.

Easton/NFCA Assistant Coach of the Year Award
Recognizes an assistant/associate head coach from each NFCA membership category for their tireless dedication to the sport of softball and to the continued education, growth, and development of young women both on and off the field.

Humanitarian Award
Recognizes an NFCA member coach who has selflessly dedicated his/her time toward the long-term betterment of the community and/or engaged in charitable activities in the service of others.

Mary Nutter Scholarship
Is an educational grant awarded to an NFCA member coach who seeks and desires educational opportunity, but who requires financial assistance to cover the NFCA Annual Convention costs.

Diversity Grant
Is a grant awarded to a minority NFCA member coach who is active in the fastpitch community, is service oriented, and who promotes diversity in the sport of softball.