Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 debacle has been a highly publicized one, as exploding batteries and smartphones catching fire eventually led to the end of the device's short life.
A Grand Theft Auto V modder saw the opportunity to make light of the fiasco, creating a mod that added the Galaxy Note 7 into the game as a bomb. The smartphone replaced the sticky explosives, and it can be thrown and later detonated to cause chaos in the game.
Created by HitmanNiko, the GTA V mod is the perfect parody of the unfortunately explosive situation that Samsung had to deal with. However, it seems that Samsung did not find the mod entertaining at all, as the company requested the takedown of one of the most popular YouTube videos featuring the Note 7 bomb.
The YouTube user who uploaded the video and goes by the handle sdaddy345 is certainly not happy with what happened, especially since his Modded Games channel started to gain traction due to the said video.
"Yeah, I'm pretty bummed out; this video is what made my small channel grow. Now I have to wait till YouTube looks at the counter-claim which could take 10+ days," wrote sdaddy345 in a Reddit thread where he shared what happened to his video.
In images that were uploaded regarding the takedown, it was shown that the requesting party was Samsung Electronics America and its affiliates, on claims of copyright violations.
In the Reddit thread, the uploaded material said that the video did not contain any logo or image that directly references the Galaxy Note 7, nor was there even any mention of Samsung's name. As such, the takedown of the video due to copyright violations can be considered a gross misuse of the DMCA tool, which is meant to tackle videos that feature copyright infringement.
However, some Redditors pointed out that, upon looking closely at the supposed Note 7 in the video, there appears to be Samsung's logo on it. In addition, the video's title clearly references Samsung and the Galaxy Note 7, which could be the basis for the company's takedown requests.
There are other videos on YouTube featuring the mod that turns the Note 7 into a bomb, and they can still be watched. It is unclear whether Samsung has filed similar takedown requests against these videos, which are nowhere near as popular yet as sdaddy345's video.
It remains to be seen what will happen with the video that was taken down, as a dispute has been launched against it. Whatever the case, perhaps it would be better for Samsung to devote its time to the investigation of why the Galaxy Note 7 came with exploding batteries, instead of hunting for videos featuring GTA V mods.
