Samsung doesn’t want you to see video of this GTA V exploding phone mod

Another video of the "Samsung Galaxy Note 7 [Bomb]" mod for GTA V that hasn't been taken down from YouTube (yet).

It's not every day that we see a story come down the pike that combines topical news of exploding cell phones, game modifications, and issues of copyright legality into a single cocktail of pure Ars catnip. Today is one of those days, though, since phone maker Samsung has issued a seemingly frivolous DMCA takedown notice for a video showing a Grand Theft Auto V mod that features a Galaxy Note 7 as an explosive weapon.

As Techdirt reports, the video titled "GTA 5 MOD - Samsung Galaxy Note 7 (bomb)" is "no longer available due to a copyright claim by Samsung Electronics America, Inc. and its affiliates," according to its YouTube page. Before the takedown, the video appears to have been a simple gameplay recording of this "Samsung Galaxy Note 7 [Bomb]" mod, from modder HitmanNiko, which replaces Grand Theft Auto V's sticky bombs with a 3D model of the famously defective (and now discontinued) phone.

It's not clear if the takedown was automated or manually requested by the phone maker, but you can still find plenty of other videos on YouTube showing that mod in action, so Samsung doesn't appear to be casting a wide net over all such videos as of yet.

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