Lawyer Reacts to Alleged Plagiarism in NU Pep Squad Dance Routine

Lawyer shares two cents on NU Pep Squad alleged plagiarism

ATTY. JESUS FALCIS – The prominent lawyer shared his two cents on the alleged plagiarism of the National University (NU) Pep Squad’s dance routine.

NU Pep Squad issue
Credit to the rightful owner of the photos

It was on Saturday, December 10 when the National University Pep Squad competed in the UAAP Cheerdance Competition held at the Mall of Asia Arena. The Bulldogs battled back to win their sixth UAAP CDC championship in nine seasons during a performance known as “Cheerobics.”

While the group is celebrating their victory, there were bashers accusing the winning cheerdance team of plagiarism. The group earned bashing on social media, particularly on Twitter.

Among those who reacted on the issue of NU Pep Squad is Attorney Jesus Falcis. According to the lawyer, while the choreographies may be protected, people could not copyright dance moves.

In a tweet, Falcis highlighted the Intellectual Property Code’s section on literary and linguistic works, which includes a list of choreography works. The attorney said that because choreographies are arrangements and compositions of dances, copyright is activated at the time of creation.

In spite of the presumption of ownership and the legal advantages it affords, he said, copyright owners are not required to register in order to obtain their copyright. Falcis said that the act of copying many dances without changing the order of these movements constitutes a violation.

The lawyer said that there are three components of choreography such as time, energy, and space. When someone “copies the time, energy, and space of the choreography and/or the copied dance steps have little or minimal variation,” copyright infringement has taken place.

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