A YouTuber is currently being sued by Bungie for submitting false copyright takedown requests for several pieces of unauthorized, fan-made Destiny 2 videos. Bungie has issued a $7.6 million lawsuit.
According to a complaint lodged by Bungie yesterday, Nicholas Minor, also known as Lord Nazo, is the one behind the fake DMCA warnings, sending them to other YouTubers after receiving one personally from Bungie. Minor reportedly declined to take down their clips and kept them up unless YouTube took them down in January.
As more and more well-known YouTubers began to receive penalties for content that in no way looked to be violating, Bungie officially acknowledged that it was not their fault and that they were on the lookout for those responsible. This led to the filing of a lawsuit to track down the offender.
Bungie’s response to the DMCA takedown notifications for Destiny 2
“The Destiny community was confused and unhappy, believing Bungie had broken a commitment to enable players to develop their own streaming communities and YouTube channels on Destiny 2 material,” Bungie argues in the complaint.
“Destiny community members were also encouraged to assume that Bungie’s brand protection agent was likewise fake, encouraging users to question the legitimacy of actual DMCA complaints.” Bungie had to commit substantial internal resources to deal with it and assist its players in restoring their videos and channels.”
“On 96 different occasions, Minor employed his bogus CSC Gmail accounts to exploit a vulnerability in YouTube’s DMCA security that enables anybody to allege to be representing a rights holder for reasons of requesting a takedown, with no actual controls against fraud,” according to the complaint.
Youtube assisted Bungie in locating the perpetrator by providing the IP address of the individual generating the fake claims. Bungie is claiming $150,000 in penalties for each of the works named in the False or misleading Takedown notice.
