Activision vs. Anthony Fantano "Enough Slices" Lawsuit

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Overview

Activision vs. Anthony Fantano "Enough Slices" Lawsuit refers to a lawsuit filed by video game publisher Activision against music critic Anthony Fantano, aka TheNeedleDrop, after Fantano purportedly demanded monetary compensation and threatened to sue Activision for using his viral TikTok audio and meme It's Enough Slices to showcase the making of a pair of custom Crash Bandicoot sneakers. The lawsuit was filed in late July 2023 and inspired reactions online, with some defending Activision and some defending Fantano. On August 15th, Activision reportedly dropped the lawsuit.

Background

"It's Enough Slices" Audio

On April 27th, 2021, music critic Anthony Fantano posted a Duet to a TikTok^[1] video in which a man slices a pizza into many thin slices. In the Duet, Fantano repeatedly tells the man "it's enough slices," urging him to stop cutting (shown below). The video's original sound went viral, inspiring over 54,000 uses in two years (excluding reuploads of the original sound).

2023 Lawsuit

On July 24th, 2023, Activision Publishing filed a lawsuit with the United States District Court Central District of California against Fantano.^[2] The lawsuit claims that Fantano's legal team contacted Activision after they used the original sound for his "Enough Slices" meme on TikTok to showcase the creation of a pair of custom Crash Bandicoot sneakers. Fantano purportedly demanded an "immediate" "six-figure-sum" from the company for using the sound, claiming if they didn't pay him they should be “prepared to defend a lawsuit.”

Fantano purportedly claimed the use of the sound is considered "false endorsement," creating "confusion, mistake or deception" about his involvement with Activision. Activision argued that the sound falls under fair use as it is publically available on TikTok, widely used and many people wouldn't know it was Fantano from the sound alone. In the lawsuit, Activision's lawyers write:

"Fantano has embarked on a scheme whereby he selectively threatens to sue certain users of the Slices Audio unless they pay him extortionate amounts of money for their alleged use.”

Activision ultimately took down the video, but Fantano purportedly still wanted monetary compensation. Activision then decided to file a lawsuit against Fantano, seeking a "declaratory" ruling stating that Fantano can't sue people who use his sound and forcing him to repay Activision's legal fees. Media outlets including Billboard^[3] and Rolling Stone^[4] reported on the lawsuit on July 25th, 2023.

Developments

Media outlets continued to report on the lawsuit as word spread online, including Reuters^[5] and StereoGum^[6] on July 25th, 2023.

Also that day, Twitter^[7]^[8] users @RobertFreundLaw and @Kurrco made posts detailing the lawsuit, garnering over 130 likes and 6,100 likes, respectively, in a day. The former shared segments of the lawsuit through comments, including a section in which Activision showed how the "Enough Slices" sound is available in TikTok's "Commercial Sounds" category, meaning sounds that are available to the public for royalty-free commercial use (shown below). On July 26th, NME^[9] additionally reported on the lawsuit.

Lawsuit Dropped

On August 11th, 2023, Reuters^[12] reported that Activision dropped the lawsuit against Fantano. According to the report, Activision dropped the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning it can't be refiled. It was not made immediately clear why the lawsuit was dropped,

Online Reactions

The lawsuit inspired numerous reactions online, some defending Activision and some defending Fantano. For example, on July 25th, 2023, Twitter^[10] user @fyridk posted a response to people defending Activision, writing, "not a big fan of how ppl are taking activisions side on this. yea guys lets side with the corporation that sexually harasses its female employees because now theyre going against the dude who gave kanye a 6," garnering over 16,000 likes in a day (shown below, left).

On July 26th, Twitter^[11] user @TopBrickBoss shared their conflicted opinion, writing, "On the one hand, very weird of Fantano to threaten legal action over a TikTok sound. On the other hand, very weird of Activision to sue Fantano over a TikTok sound they didn't make" (shown below, right).