Skibidi Toilet DMCA'd in Garry's Mod: Legal Status Uncertain

Garry’s Mod creator, Garry Newman, reportedly received a DMCA takedown notice from an individual initially believed to be affiliated with a company asserting copyright over Skibidi Toilet. Learn more about this paradoxical dispute.

Skibidi Toilet Files DMCA Against Garry’s ModSkibidi Toilet’s Takedown Notice

On July 30, Garry Newman, creator of Garry’s Mod, allegedly received a copyright infringement claim, from an unidentified source, demanding removal of "unauthorized Skibidi Toilet Garry’s Mod games," asserting that "there is absolutely no licensed Steam, Valve, Garry’s Mod content related to Skibidi Toilet."

Early reports implicated Invisible Narratives, the studio behind Skibidi Toilet’s film and TV projects, as the notice's sender. However, this has been refuted; a Discord profile seemingly belonging to the Skibidi Toilet creator denied sending the DMCA notice, as initially reported by Dexerto.

"Garry’s Mod" is a Newman-created mod for Valve's Half-Life 2, enabling players to design and participate in custom game modes. "DaFuq!?Boom!," a YouTube channel operated by Alexey Gerasimov, adapts Garry’s Mod assets into Valve's Source Filmmaker, an animation tool, to produce the Skibidi Toilet YouTube series. This video series gained immense popularity, becoming a Gen Alpha meme, spawning merchandise and a planned film and TV series from Michael Bay and Adam Goodman's studio, Invisible Narratives.

Counters to Skibidi Toilet's DMCA Claim

Garry Newman initially disclosed the DMCA complaint on the s&box Discord server today. "You know what’s worse than the Nintendo DMCA?" Newman posted. "Skibidi Toilet creators submitted a DMCA too… Can you believe the audacity?" He then shared a screenshot of the complaint in the Discord chat.

Invisible Narrative maintains in the notice that characters like "Titan Cameraman, Titan Speakerman, Titan TV Man, and Skibidi Toilet are all registered copyrights" exclusive to their brand. They then cited the YouTube channel, DaFuqBoom, as the primary source of "’Skibidi Toilet’ characters".

This action is unexpected considering the meme’s origins. Skibidi toilet itself was created using assets from Garry’s Mod, making the copyright infringement claim even more paradoxical.

Although Garry’s Mod was also developed using other people’s assets–Half Life 2 in this instance– Valve has granted Garry Newman their approval, given the company published the game as a standalone title in 2006. Compared to Invisible Narratives, Valve possesses a stronger legal standing because they own the assets used in Garry’s Mod. Since Valve is the original owner of Half Life 2, they would have a more compelling claim against the unauthorized use of their assets by DaFuq!?Boom!

After Garry Newman publicly discussed the DMCA takedown on his Discord server, DaFuq!?Boom! used the s&box Discord to deny any involvement, as users speculated he had targeted Garry’s Mod. "Is there a way to contact Garry? I did NOT target Garry’s Mod and I’m trying to understand what else is in the letter!” the creator posted.

Currently, the DMCA notice was sent by an unknown entity "on behalf of copyright holder: Invisible Narratives, LLC". The assets claimed were copyrighted by the company in 2023 under "Titan Cameraman and 3 Other Unpublished Works", including Titan Speakerman, Titan TV Man, and Skibidi Toilet.

DaFuq!?Boom!’s assertion remains unverified, but this isn't the first time the Skibidi Toilet content creator faced scrutiny over copyright claims.

Skibidi Toilet Copyright Strikes Other YouTubers

Last September, DaFuq!?Boom! intensified his prior copyright claims by targeting other YouTube channels, including GameToons, a YouTuber producing similar content.

GameToons initially sought a friendly resolution, contacting DaFuq!?Boom! for a possible agreement. However, their attempts failed as DaFuq!?Boom! persisted, filing two more copyright strikes. These strikes, if upheld, could have deleted GameToons’ channel.

A week later, GameToons reached an agreement with DaFuq!?Boom! and collaborated with YouTube to resolve the issue. Details of their agreement are scarce, but many considered the initial copyright claim objectionable.