A TikToker is suing Roblox for stealing her Charli XCX dance

Up until four years ago, copyrighting dance moves wasn’t really a thing. But in 2021, thanks in part to TikTok and its constant stream of viral dances, that changed. That year, JaQuel Knight, the choreographer behind major hit music videos like Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” and Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP,” filed to own the rights to moves used in those songs. He set the precedent for content creators on TikTok to copyright moves they came up with, giving them control over whether other people–and, crucially, companies–could use them.

One of those creators is Kelley Heyer. Heyer, who has 313,000 followers on TikTok, invented a dance to the chorus of Charli XCX‘s track “Apple” in June 2024, and it went so viral she was invited to perform at one of the artist’s concerts.

The dance also got popular enough to catch the eye of both Fortnite and Roblox. These game creation platforms have a history of putting viral and/or meme dances into their games, and both were interested in introducing Heyer’s as player-usable emotes.

@kelley.heyer 1 month ago I made a dance on a whim and now look at everyone dancing along and having so much fun!! Thank you @Charli XCX for this amazing song and iconic album and for 💚BRAT SUMMER💚 ⭐️ ps who in nyc wants to PARTY because I want to DANCE ⭐️ Outfit details: Top-A lovely gift from @Alvaro Earrings-@Airik ✮ Glasses-@AKILA Eyewear Shoes-Feners Pants-From ebay, tag says I.N. San Francisco #apple #brat #charlixcx ♬ Apple – Charli xcx

Fortnite, which apparently learned its lesson after facing numerous lawsuits from creators who alleged it stole their dances, successfully contacted Heyer and licensed her moves. It began selling its “Apple” emote in December 2024.

But, according to a lawsuit filed by Heyer, things went awry with Roblox.

The creator says she was still in the middle of negotiations and hadn’t yet arrived at a deal when Roblox began selling her “Apple” emote on Aug. 17, 2024. The emote’s release coincided with a Charli XCX-themed update to one of its most popular games, Dress to Impress.

Heyer says that on Aug. 12, she indicated she was willing to let Roblox license her dance. But she says no terms had been agreed to when it hit the store; instead, Roblox “refused to finalize a license agreement” and also refused to pay her for usage of the dance, per the suit.

The lawsuit–which was filed April 11 in California–claims Roblox’s “Apple” emote was purchased over 60,000 times, generating at least $123,000 in revenue. Heyer was not paid.

“Roblox moved forward using Kelley’s IP without a signed agreement,” Heyer’s attorney, Miki Anzai, said in a statement to Polygon. “Kelley is an independent creator who should be compensated fairly for her work and we saw no other option than to file suit to prove that. We remain willing and open to settle and hope to come to a peaceful agreement.”

Roblox issued its own statement, saying it “looks forward to responding [to Heyer] in court.”

“As a platform powered by a community of creators, Roblox takes the protection of intellectual property very seriously and is committed to protecting intellectual property rights of independent developers and creators to brands and artists both on and off the platform. Roblox is confident in its position and the propriety of its dealings in this matter,” a spokesperson said.

The “Apple” emote is no longer available for sale on Roblox.

It’s worth noting here that Heyer filed a copyright application for her “Apple” moves Aug. 30, 2024, which was after things went downhill with Roblox. That may be the legal angle Roblox takes here: that Heyer didn’t own copyright yet, thus didn’t need to agree for Roblox to use her dance–nor be compensated.

As we said above, copyrighting dance moves is new, and so are court dealings around it. With some creative outputs, like novels, copyright is automatically granted to the creator. But dance moves aren’t autocopyrighted, so it’s possible the court could decide Heyer didn’t technically own her moves when Roblox put them in its store.

All that being said, Roblox is a company that does hundreds of millions of dollars in business with content creators every year, so it might not want to generate bad blood here.