Bungie is suing a man who sent takedown requests on behalf of Bungie

Bungie has filed a lawsuit against a person who falsely sent notices to YouTube creators on behalf of the company to take Destiny 2 content offline. Bungie is seeking damages of $7.6 million.

Bungie claims, among other things, that there is reputational damage and economic damage by the actions of the man. The game company accuses the YouTube user, alias Lord Nazo, of sending large numbers of takedown requests via YouTube. He sent it on behalf of Bungie, invoking the US DMCA copyright law. Lord Nazo registered mail accounts with the name CSC, an intellectual property protection company Bungie partners with.

It involved a total of 96 takedown requests, addressed to YouTube creators targeting Destiny 2. The wave of summons from earlier this year sparked outrage within the Destiny 2 community, mostly because most of it was clearly unjustified. Lord Nazo allegedly actively engaged in those discussions. Bungie therefore hastened to report that the requests did not come from the company and that the person responsible would be tracked down.

The alleged perpetrator made according to Forbes itself Destiny 2 videos. The indictment allegedly shows that Lord Nazo has placed loops of Destiny 2 music on his channel in the past and received authentic takedown requests for it on behalf of Bungie and CSC. He refused to remove his videos, after which YouTube took his entire channel offline. Referring to the spate of takedown claims he had falsely filed himself, Lord Nazo tried to get YouTube to reactivate his channel.

Former friends of Lord Nazo reportedly described how the user explained on Discord the steps he took with regard to takedown requests and how easy it was to submit them to YouTube. Bungie speaks of a ‘loophole’ because YouTube does not verify that the requests come from the rightful party. Lord Nazo is also said to have sent threatening emails to CSC, with the message ‘Better start running. The clock is ticking’.