Seeing that there is no such thing as actual “fortnite dances” since fortnite just ripped off pop culture… no.
This is a really interesting question, and I have some knowledge about this.
This may seem off-topic, but a few years ago, PewDiePie did a let’s play on a game called ‘Firewatch’ and the video did really well and there were no issues of course with the upload. Suddenly, PewDiePie apparently did something (I don’t remember what, but all I know is that it wasn’t appropriate) completely unrelated to the game, which the creator of Firewatch did not like. Then, PewDiePie quickly took down the lets plays of the game to avoid copyright. To shorten this, PewDiePie felt forced to take the game down to aviod copyright infringement. He made a video later on explaining how games that YouTubers let’s plays can technically be considered copyright as they are making $$ off of someone else’s work, but 99.9% game creators want them to play their game as it’s free advertising.
Anyways, going back to the “Are Fortnite Dances Copyrighted?”, I’d say this would fit in the same category:
Technically if Fortnite had an issue with users using their dances, they could win a copyright claim, but Epic Games would probably not even bother to do this.
In the end, Fornite could technically make a copyright claim over something like this, but I highly doubt they would even do this as their such a large company. In fact, BuzzFeed made a video on Fortnite Dances and they were not punished in any way. So you should be fine.
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I disagree, as I said above, movements/dances are really hard to completely copyright. And even if they could, it’s impossible to make an exact replica especially in Roblox.
Certain ones like “the twist” I’d say you can’t copyright because it’s based off a real dance, but some of them you could as Fortnite made them. Regardless, I don’t think Fortnite would give someone a problem about it.
If we go with the concept “epic games spent time making it so it’s their copyright to enforce” that means nobody can “dab” as they have spent time in creating that emote, nobody can floss as they created that emote.
You can see where I am going with this I’ve read their terms of service and as I expected it’s kept vague to allow for room. In all honesty use a social dance from fortnite if you would like as about 50% were copied from other sources.
TLDR; Just it if you want, they won’t target you.
You should research and verify with a legal professional. Respecting copyright must be done no matter your size.
In the end you’re going to have to wait for what the outcome is.
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Dances that are discrete and short cannot be registered for copyright protection. Though more complex dance moves may be copyrighted, their individual steps cannot be copyrighted as it is a “basic building block” and it prevents the growth of creativity and innovation of new dance moves.
So my idea would be if you tweak the animations a bit, even if its just a little bit, you should be fine.
However, if they are copyrighted and my previous statement was false, they can be used, but I highly doubt if they are legally allowed in any Roblox-related material at all.
“Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.” (Quoted from Copyright Act 1976, Section 107)
There are factors that may influence this statement, including:
(1) the reason you are using this copyrighted material (including commercial or nonprofit uses)
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) how much of the work has been used in the proportion of the entire property; and
(4) the effects that occur when using such property based solely on its potential market or value
If I were to briefly summarize this, the use of Fortnite dances ultimately is reserved for journalism, educational purposes, public discussion or research. The only possible exception of this may be video recording for “time shifting” purposes (as in to rewatch live brodcasts). However, this does not stop many attempts in the Developer Community to make Fortnite Dances into something they can gain off of, whether if it is financially, or for use of marketing. It’s a risky idea to implement these in games if you ask me.
Consequences have been given to past Roblox games due to copyright claims, so there is a possibility of similar problems arising in the future. Of course, this has not always been the case, but this is just something to keep in mind.
But as @railworks2 has said, consult with a legal professional for information regarding this topic.
Works Cited:
Chapter 11: Subject Matter and Scope of Copyright.” Copyright.gov, Library Of Congress,
www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html.
This is my first post by the way. 
Hope I didn’t overdo it.
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In US law, choreography is protected under the 1976 Copyright Act, but this has a range of stipulations. The law differentiates between social dances , which everyone can perform, and choreography performed by experts. This means that no one can pop in and copyright the conga.
Not from a legal professional, although in all honesty Fortnite emotes are social dances, even if this statement above is false they would be protected by fair use.
If I am completely wrong about this please tell me below and I shall edit this post accordingly.
I believe it is more effective to consult a legal professional as they can tell you information that can dive deeper into this topic, and thus, providing a much more reliable answer than just research from (possibly unauthorized) sources.
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Latest Update on the situation
TL,DR;
The US Copyright Office rejects “short dance routines consisting of only a few movements or steps,” as well as “social dances” that aren’t designed for skilled professional performers. (While some of the lawsuits involve dances with registered copyrights, those appear to cover larger sequences rather than a single move.) But experts aren’t completely dismissing it, because there’s understandably not much case law covering video game dances.
If a court does rule against Epic, it would effectively be saying that someone can copyright a seconds-long sequence of movements, then prevent anyone else from performing and recording those movements without paying royalties. And that’s a really big deal .
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Well, considering that Epic Games has been sued a few times, I wouldn’t be too sure
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If you were to add it to your game you most likely won’t get in trouble at all. If you were to, I’m pretty sure you’d just get a warning and asked to take it off. As of right now people are suing Fortnite because they did use dances without permisssion. In recent news one of the dances (not sure which) was declined to become copyrighted. It’s a movement and people can interpret it in many ways so copyrighting a movement would be hard.
Overall, you’ll be probably fine and you shouldn’t worry much about it.
So the lawsuit over the Fortnite dances has been dropped: https://www.dexerto.com/fortnite/alfonso-ribeiros-legal-dispute-with-epic-games-over-fortnites-carlton-dance-concludes-434967
Since the U.S. government essentially said you can’t copyright dances that means that Fortnite dances would be fine in your game.
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I’m pretty sure you can’t copyright dances. You should be fine
It should be noted you probably still can’t use their exact animations (i.e. export them to a Roblox format and use them directly)–the dances may not me copyrighted but the keyframes are. You’d have to remake them yourself.
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You’ll very likely be fine if you include any. Though, I suggest making your own, or even your own spin-offs.