The Epic Games’ Fortnite Dance Processes continue, but this time Epic is the first time. On October 30, Matthew Geiler – better known as “Dancing Pumpkin Man” – and his creative consulting firm Sick Picnic Media wrote a letter of withdrawal to the Fortnite inventor threatening to sue for the game’s Pump It Up emote.
Epic responded to the injunction, then filed a pre-emptive appeal requesting a ruling from the judge on the matter, as first reported by The Verge. On December 9, Epic filed a complaint against Geiler and Sick Picnic Media, alleging that Dancing Pumpkin Man is not a trademark, so Geiler can not enforce a ceasefire.
The emote “Pump It Up” turns the players’ heads into flaming pumpkins while they dance like Geiler in his viral video “Dancing Pumpkin Man” below. The Emote was available for purchase for a single day during this year’s Fortnitemares event.
Epic’s complaint is a threat in response to a threat. It states that Epic will bring Geiler to court if he and Sick Picnic Media do not revoke their dismissal. Despite a licensing agreement with Epic, which he admitted in a Facebook post this year, Geiler and Sick Picnic Media demanded that Epic no longer use the resemblance to Dancing Pumpkin Man. The letter also pointed out that Geiler “was willing to take all necessary measures to protect the character of the dancing pumpkin man”.
A representative from Epic told Polygon he did not comment on ongoing litigation. Neither Geiler nor Sick Picnic Media answered before publishing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWBCh8dGR4k [/ embed]
Epic used his legal weight to decimate the image of Dancing Pumpkin Man. In section 4 of the complaint, the lawyers at Epic claim that nothing about the dancing pumpkin man was originally created for the video, since Geiler neither made the jersey or the pumpkin mask nor composed the song to which he danced.
Epic reiterates his strengths in the Allegations section, which tells the story of different pumpkin head types and pumpkin figures with pictures.
Epic wants a judge to say there is no Epic violation before Dancing Pumpkin Man can file an official complaint. If Geiler and Sick do not revoke Picnic Media, which means that Epic grants permission to continue using the Dancing Pumpkin Man character, the studio will file a lawsuit against Geiler before he can sue Epic.
This is not the first time that Epic has been involved in a dispute over a dance in the game. In March 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that companies like Epic are protected from many of these attacks, and the prosecutors filed several lawsuits against the company.
