In early December 2022, Nintendo had a journalistic documentary about a failed pitch in 2004 for a zelda tactical game stolen from YouTube. However, last week, Google’s video-sharing platform reinstated the project after apparently finding no copyright infringement. It’s the rare example of a content creator who persists and reverses a copyright takedown order.
“We won”, YouTube channel DidYouKnowGaming tweeted on December 28th. “The Heroes of Hyrule video is back.” It added that YouTube confirmed that the original copyright takedown notice was indeed from Nintendo and not a scammer and that the video was preserved over 20,000 views back on his first day.
The video was originally posted in October and featured footage from a failed Retro Studios pitch to make a Legend of Zelda Tactics spin-off for the Nintendo DS The Heroes of Hyrule. The video elaborated on the design goals and why the studio is most famous Metroid Prime was even interested in making it, all based on an interview with the former developer behind the pitch.
When Nintendo issued a copyright takedown notice against the video months later in December, DidYouKnowGaming accused the popular gaming company of censoring journalism and interfering with efforts to preserve historical records. It told my city the plan was to defend the video for fair use reasons, and that campaign now seems to have caught on.
“If you contest a DMCA on YouTube, the company that issued you the DMCA has 10 business days to demonstrate that they have taken legal action against you or the video will be reinstated.” tweeted Shane Gill, the owner of DidYouKnowGaming. “So I’ve spent the last two weeks checking my email to see if Nintendo is suing [sic] me.”
Nintendo wasn’t suing, at least not yet. While that option still exists, the Mario The producer would now have to take the channel to court to have the video removed, rather than simply relying on YouTube’s automatic copyright protection policies to be bent. “Their intention was to remove this piece of journalistic work from the internet because they didn’t like what it revealed,” Gil tweeted.
Nintendo, YouTube and DidYouKnowGaming did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
