Skibidi Toilet DMCA'd in Garry's Mod: Legality Questioned

Garry Newman, creator of the popular modding platform Garry's Mod, reportedly received a DMCA takedown notice seemingly related to the Skibidi Toilet meme. The situation is shrouded in some confusion, however, making the entire affair rather ironic.

Skibidi Toilet's DMCA Claim Against Garry's Mod

On July 30th, a copyright claim, the source of which is currently unverified, targeted "unauthorized Skibidi Toilet Garry's Mod games." The sender asserted that no licensed content related to Skibidi Toilet exists within the Garry's Mod ecosystem on Steam or Valve platforms.

Initial reports incorrectly attributed the notice to Invisible Narratives, the studio behind Skibidi Toilet's planned film and television adaptations. However, a Discord profile seemingly belonging to the Skibidi Toilet creator has since denied sending the DMCA, as reported by Dexerto.

For context, Garry's Mod, a mod for Valve's Half-Life 2, allows users to create custom games and content. The Skibidi Toilet meme itself originated from the YouTube channel DaFuq!?Boom!, run by Alexey Gerasimov, who uses Garry's Mod assets and Valve's Source Filmmaker to create animations. This series' popularity spawned merchandise and the aforementioned film and TV projects.

Counterarguments and the Irony

Newman revealed the DMCA on the s&box Discord server, highlighting the irony of the situation. Invisible Narratives' notice claims copyright ownership over characters like Titan Cameraman, Titan Speakerman, Titan TV Man, and Skibidi Toilet, citing DaFuq!?Boom! as the original source. The irony lies in the fact that DaFuq!?Boom! created the characters using assets from Garry's Mod itself.

While Garry's Mod uses assets from Half-Life 2, Valve, the game's publisher, has authorized its standalone release. This gives Valve a stronger claim to any unauthorized use of their assets than Invisible Narratives.

Following Newman's public statement, DaFuq!?Boom! denied involvement in the DMCA, posting on the s&box Discord server and expressing confusion about the situation. The DMCA notice, supposedly sent "on behalf of copyright holder: Invisible Narratives, LLC," claims copyright on the aforementioned characters, registered in 2023.

The legitimacy of DaFuq!?Boom!'s denial remains unconfirmed. This isn't the first time the Skibidi Toilet content creator has faced copyright scrutiny.

Previous Copyright Disputes

Last September, DaFuq!?Boom! issued copyright strikes against other YouTube channels, including GameToons, leading to a temporary conflict before a resolution was reached. The details of that agreement remain undisclosed. The current situation involving Garry's Mod adds another layer to the ongoing debate surrounding copyright and the use of assets within the gaming community.