A Crusade To Erase Obscure Japanese Game Cookie Finally Ends

"Since 2022, an individual known as Brandon White, under the company 'Graceware,' has unleashed swarms of copyright claims at any online material relating to the game Cookie's Bustle. Many first took notice when these disappeared several posts from the cult ephemerist YouTuber ClassicsOfGame, leaving pockmarks in their elegant, numbered catalogue."

"Whoever Brandon White is, they seemed less like someone protecting intellectual property and more like someone trying to erase it from existence. This strange behavior came to the Video Game History Foundation's own door. Though rare, a physical copy of the game was donated to the Foundation. The page they made to display this treasured acquisition? That got hit with a copyright strike too."

"The lengthy post goes on to explain how the VGHF went on the offensive, uncovering the network of non-scrupulous firms and copyright services that White was using to launch this campaign. White had put up a smokescreen of sorts to use resources from the Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie), despite having no evidence of ownership of Cookie's Bustle."

The Video Game History Foundation recently exposed a coordinated campaign to suppress Cookie's Bustle, an obscure 1990s Japanese PC game, through fraudulent copyright claims. Brandon White, operating under the company name Graceware, systematically filed DMCA takedowns against YouTube videos, Twitch streams, fan art, ROM sites, and Discord posts related to the game. The strikes even targeted the Foundation's own archive page displaying a donated physical copy. Through investigation, the Foundation uncovered that White exploited copyright services and falsely used credentials from the Association for UK Interactive Entertainment to launch this suppression campaign, despite having no legitimate ownership claim to the game.

Read at Kotaku