Bungie has filed a lawsuit seeking £6.2million in damages against the individual allegedly responsible for a host of fraudulent Destiny 2 copyright takedowns issued in Bungie’s name back in March.
In a court filing (via PCGamesN), submitted on June 22, Bungie alleges that YouTuber Lord Nazo, real name Nicholas Minor, was responsible for a “malicious campaign to serve fraudulent takedown notices.”
Bungie is referring to a series of fraudulent takedown notices that were issued in the company’s name in March 2022, causing a host of prominent Destiny 2 content creators to have their videos taken down by YouTube.
The company alleges that after Minor’s own YouTube channel was sent a legitimate takedown notice from Bungie over a soundtrack video, Minor retaliated by creating several fake email addresses which were made to look like they belonged to Bungie’s brand protector, CSC Global.
According to the lawsuit, Minor proceeded to use these fake email addresses to submit 96 separate takedown notices aimed at Destiny 2 YouTubers. At the same time, Minor spread disinformation regarding the takedowns through his Lord Nazo YouTube channel.
These events caused Bungie “significant reputational and economic damage” and required the developer commit “significant internal resources to addressing”. In regards to damage, Bungie outlined the consequences of the fraudulent takedowns below:
“The Destiny community was bewildered and upset, believing that Bungie had reneged on a promise to allow players to build their own streaming communities and YouTube channels on Destiny 2 content. Destiny community members were also misled to believe that Bungie’s brand protection agent was also fraudulent, causing confusion among users as to the authenticity of legitimate DMCA notices.”
In response, Bungie’s lawsuit seeks £6.2million in damages from Minor and aims to “demonstrate that serious consequences await anyone else foolish enough to volunteer as a defendant by targeting Bungie’s community for attack.”
Last week, Destiny 2 cheat creators agreed to pay Bungie £10.7million to settle a separate lawsuit from the company.
