TikTok content material creator Kelley Heyer sued the online game Roblox for utilizing her dance to Charli XCX’s “Apple” with out permission.

Heyer posted the viral dance in June 2024, which fed off of the hype of Charli XCX’s hit summer time album “Brat.” The dance grew to become so fashionable that Charli XCX included it into her dwell present and even invited Heyer to carry out the dance at her present in New York Metropolis.

Fortnite and Roblox, two blockbuster video games fashionable amongst kids, every included the dance into their video games, permitting gamers to buy “emotes” of the dance for his or her avatars to carry out. However whereas Fortnite received Heyer’s permission to license her choreography, she alleges that Roblox did not sign an agreement to take action.

“Roblox moved ahead utilizing Kelley’s IP and not using a signed settlement. Kelley is an unbiased creator who must be compensated pretty for her work and we noticed no different possibility than to file swimsuit to show that,” mentioned Miki Anzai, Heyer’s lawyer. “We stay keen and open to settle and hope to come back to a peaceable settlement.”

In response to Polygon, Heyer estimates that Roblox earned over $123,000 from promoting greater than 60,000 emotes of the “Apple” dance.

“As a platform powered by a neighborhood of creators, Roblox takes the safety of mental property very critically and is dedicated to defending mental property rights of unbiased builders and creators to manufacturers and artists each on and off the platform,” Roblox mentioned in an announcement.