Fortnite faces legal battle over allegedly stolen likenesses in game's Emotes

The Epic Games title Fortnite allows for user characters to use Emotes, or specific gestures of various kinds, during a Battle Royale session. They may allow the player to express themselves better, but may also be a potential source of micro-transaction revenue for Epic. Many Emotes are only accessible as a result of spending V-Bucks in the game.

A musician has taken issue with one Emote in particular. Known as Leo P, (or Leo Pellegrino), he has laid claim to a characteristic style of saxophone-playing throughout the years, as well as a unique stance while doing so. He claims that these have been incorporated into the Emote known as Phone It In - and, also, that Epic has not paid him a cent for it.

Therefore, the musician's legal team (Pierce Bainbridge) is filing a suit against Epic for the apparently unauthorized use of this material. This means that Pellegrino now joins a list of other artists who share this grievance against Fortnite and its maker. To date, Epic has not responded publicly to this development.