Samsung has irrevocably shutdown the production and sales of its Galaxy Note 7 after the premium flagship smartphone came under flak for its faulty battery units that invariably caught fire and exploded in several instances. Following the two consecutive Note 7 recalls, the company's brand image has been tarnished a bit while some prankish modder named 'HitmanNiko' chose to show the infamous Galaxy smartphone in bad light in a recent GTA 5 Mod video.
The modder reportedly showcased Note 7 handsets as grenades in a recent GTA 5 Mod video on YouTube, which has allegedly offended someone inside Samsung. In a bid to stop the humiliation, Samsung has forced YouTube to shutdown HitmanNiko's creative video and presumably several others that showed Note 7 in a bad light.
Ever since the video was shutdown, you can only see a message stating that "the video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Samsung Electronics America".
It is anybody's guess that using game Mods to create funny things like a smartphone grenade does not intentionally violate any copyright issues. In fact, it seems like Samsung might have just gone overboard with its DMCA rights as the mod is basically an art of creativity and imagination.
We are not sure if Samsung would seriously pursue a lawsuit against the creator of this mod and if such a case would help restore the tarnished brand image of the Note series. Nevertheless, it would be a wiser option to look back into what went wrong with the Note 7 batteries and avert another disaster in the future.
