Garry Newman, creator of Garry's Mod, reportedly received a DMCA takedown notice concerning unauthorized Skibidi Toilet content within the Garry's Mod platform. The notice, from an initially unidentified source, claimed a lack of licensing for Skibidi Toilet assets within the game.
Initial reports incorrectly attributed the notice to Invisible Narratives, the studio behind the Skibidi Toilet film and TV projects. However, Alexey Gerasimov, the creator of the DaFuq!?Boom! YouTube channel (which uses Garry's Mod assets to create Skibidi Toilet content), has since denied sending the notice via a Discord post, as reported by Dexerto.
Garry's Mod, a Half-Life 2 modification, allows user-created content. The DaFuq!?Boom! channel's Skibidi Toilet animations, created using Garry's Mod assets and ported to Source Filmmaker, spurred the meme's popularity, leading to merchandise and planned film/TV adaptations.
The DMCA notice, shared by Newman on the s&box Discord, highlights the irony: Skibidi Toilet itself originated from Garry's Mod assets. Invisible Narratives' claim asserts copyright ownership over characters like Titan Cameraman, Titan Speakerman, Titan TV Man, and Skibidi Toilet. They cite DaFuq!?Boom! as the original source of these characters.
This situation presents a complex legal question. While Garry's Mod uses Half-Life 2 assets, Valve (Half-Life 2's publisher) authorized its standalone release. Therefore, Valve holds a stronger claim than Invisible Narratives regarding the unauthorized use of their assets by DaFuq!?Boom!.
Following the public disclosure, DaFuq!?Boom! also denied involvement on the s&box Discord, expressing confusion and a desire to contact Garry Newman. The DMCA notice lists "Invisible Narratives, LLC" as the copyright holder, claiming copyright on the aforementioned characters, registered in 2023.
While DaFuq!?Boom!'s denial remains unverified, this isn't their first copyright controversy. Last September, they issued multiple copyright strikes against GameToons, a similar YouTube channel, eventually reaching an undisclosed settlement.
The situation highlights the complexities of copyright in the age of user-generated content and memes, leaving the legitimacy of the DMCA notice against Garry's Mod uncertain.
