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hololive's Cover Corp. Sues VTuber for Copyright Infringement
posted on by Anita Tai
Cover Corporation, the parent company of the hololive productions VTuber management company, filed a lawsuit on February 5 against the V_Virgin_Mary YouTube channel on grounds of copyright infringement.
The court document notes 20 VTuber characters whose contents are infringed upon in the channel's videos. The company claims to have suffered damages due to the infringement.
The document states that Cover attempted to resolve the issues through YouTube's copyright claim system with 68 videos, but was met with counter notifications from the user. Google/YouTube requires proof of legal action to remove the videos, according to the document.
Cover seeks monetary compensation of an amount to be determined at trial as well as any profits made from the copyrighted material. The company is also requesting a jury trial and a temporary restraining order against the channel owner from further infringement.
The channel features a VTuber named Maria. She reports on news related to the VTuber agencies Hololive and Nijisanji, according to the channel description.
The suit is initially filed against an individual named Masaki Yamashita, along with 10 other individuals, whose identities are unknown. For the purposes of the suit, the individuals are referred to as Doe Defendants with fictitious names. A summons has been issued to Yamashita.
The first generation of hololive performers debuted in 2018. There are 68 virtual YouTubers who currently belong to hololive. The talents perform using intricate 2D and 3D avatars provided by the company. Cover Corporation launched hololive Indonesia — a spinoff group aimed toward the Indonesian audience — in April 2020, followed by hololive English in September 2020. The all-male holostars spinoff group debuted its first generation talent in June 2019. According to Hololive Production's English website, it has around 70 million subscribers across all its channels.
Sources: pacer.gov, The Northern District of California Court's official government website, Rihito Umbrella's blog via Hachima Kikō
