YouTubers who create content around Nintendo games and showcase gameplay are facing issues with fraudulent DMCA takedown notices. YouTube’s DMCA system allows individuals to easily submit false copyright claims, a tactic that has been misused before and can be turned against innocent channels. Nintendo is known for its strict protection of its intellectual property online, and YouTube is certainly not immune to this.
Gaming YouTube channels delve into many areas of the gaming world, yet Nintendo has one of the most complicated histories when it comes to permitting YouTubers to share content related to its games. The company has a reputation for being tough on copyright issues, as seen when the developer of Garry’s Mod had to erase 20 years of Nintendo-related videos following a DMCA notice. Lately, it seems that some people pretending to be Nintendo executives are also having videos removed.
Toward the end of September, Dominik “Domtendo” Neumayer, a popular YouTuber, received a takedown notice that looked like it was from Nintendo. What caught his attention was the email address, which used protonmail.com instead of the standard Nintendo domain. YouTubers have the option to challenge a DMCA takedown notice, but it comes with the risk of harming their channels. Nonetheless, some channels, such as Did You Know Gaming, have managed to win DMCA disputes against Nintendo.
False DMCA Takedowns Continue to be an Issue for YouTube
Domtendo delved deeper into the email and explored similar allegations involving other creators. The email was attributed to a Tatsumi Masaaki, but The Verge reports that no legal representative by that name is associated with Nintendo. While there is indeed a person with that name at Nintendo, they are located in Kyoto, Japan, not at Nintendo of America, as the email suggested. Given Nintendo’s history of aggressive legal actions, such as the removal of a fan-made Pokémon FPS following a takedown notice, it’s easy to see why someone might think the fake DMCA takedown was genuine.
Domtendo took the initiative to contact Nintendo directly to verify the authenticity of an email address, and to his surprise, he got a response. As reported by The Verge, Nintendo stated in an email on October 10, “Please be aware that [email protected] is not a valid Nintendo email address, and the information in that communication does not reflect the enforcement practices of Nintendo of America Inc. We are looking into this matter further.” After addressing the takedown notices, more emails were sent from a fake Nintendo address targeting Domtendo’s videos again. Frustratingly for Domtendo, DMCA takedown requests on YouTube are still being misused to make false claims. YouTube has remained largely quiet about these incidents, and the problem of false copyright strikes persists.