‘EXPLOOOOOOOOSION!’
[Update: According to Kotaku, the video has been reinstated by YouTube after the video’s creator filed a counter-claim against Samsung. You can view the original video right here.]
It’s been a rough couple of months for Samsung. The company’s latest flagship phone, the Galaxy Note 7, has been subject to two separate recalls before being discontinued entirely due to its apparent ability to explode without warning. Not only that, but mod makers have taken to poking fun at the entire situation by adding weaponised Galaxy Note 7 phones to the PC version of Grand Theft Auto V.
Unfortunately, it looks like the American branch of the tech giant isn’t very impressed with the GTA V mod. According to The Verge, Samsung has recently filed a DMCA takedown request against a YouTube video that showcased it.
Even though the GTA V mod (and every video that showcases it) does depict Samsung’s phone without any sort of alteration to its physical appearance, even going so far as to include the company’s logo, the clearly exaggerated nature of the content in question could reasonably be interpreted as satire or parody. As such, it would very easily fall under the protections of fair use laws, making this takedown come across as somewhat of an abuse of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Strangely enough, the company doesn’t seem to be going after most of the videos on YouTube that showcase the mod, instead focusing its attention on only a small handful. On the plus side, this does mean that there are still many other videos that haven’t been taken down by Samsung, such as the one below:
Samsung made YouTube remove video of GTA mod that turns Note 7 into a bomb [The Verge]
