A small creator and lawyer is taking a channel with over 1.2 million subscribers to court. The accusation: brazen content theft.
At first glance, it looks like a classic “David versus Goliath” scenario: on one side is the channel EvenBadWolves Gaming, which currently has around 10,000 subscribers and is known for its in-depth, elaborate video essays. On the other side is InkSlasher, an established YouTuber with over 1.2 million subscribers – and the battle will soon be fought in court.
The trigger is a video about the zombie game “Dying Light.” EvenBadWolves accuses the much larger YouTuber of copying large parts of her work and passing it off as his own.
Since the creator’s main profession is as a lawyer, she is not stopping at a complaint, but is seeking to set a legal precedent that could permanently change the power dynamics on YouTube.
200 hours of work against copy-paste
At the center of the dispute is a comprehensive story summary of the “Dying Light” franchise, which EvenBadWolves published about a month ago. According to her statement, this project took over 200 hours of work. The video features specific editing, its own narrative structure, and specially recorded gameplay footage.
A few days before the lawsuit was filed, the InkSlasher channel also published a video about the story of Dying Light. While reviewing the material, the creator noticed that about 30 minutes of it was almost identical to her work.
This is not just about generic game scenes such as cutscenes, which inevitably tend to be similar. EvenBadWolves claims that their specific screen recordings, editing sequences, and overall composition were copied. InkSlasher merely added new text over their visual material. The direct comparison in the video embedded above leaves little doubt that InkSlasher has indeed stolen content here.
Particularly controversial: According to the plaintiff, the popular YouTuber’s script contains several factual errors, suggesting that he may not have played the games himself, but instead relied blindly on the stolen visual material without understanding the context.
InkSlasher himself has so far only commented vaguely on the allegations, stating that he merely “used gameplay material from someone else.” The video has since been removed from the platform.
From copyright strike to lawsuit
The fact that the case is now before the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia is due to the way YouTube’s copyright system works.
After EvenBadWolves noticed the theft, it filed an official copyright claim to have InkSlasher’s video blocked. InkSlasher responded with a “counter-notification,” which is a type of rebuttal.
This is a standard process on YouTube: If a creator believes that a video has been wrongfully blocked, they can file an objection. Once this objection is received, the original rights holder—in this case, EvenBadWolves—has exactly 10 business days to provide proof that legal action has been taken, according to YouTube guidelines. If this does not happen, the video is automatically restored.
Many smaller creators shy away from this point, as international copyright lawsuits are extremely costly and complex. However, EvenBadWolves decided to take this step due to their legal background.
An expensive risk
The risk for the Australian lawyer is considerable: Court costs and legal fees could amount to as much as 135,000 Australian dollars (around 82,000 euros) if the proceedings drag on. To cover this amount, a GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help cover the costs.
Her stated goal is to set a precedent. In the current YouTube landscape, many large channels often view the content of smaller, lesser-known YouTubers as a kind of “all-you-can-eat buffet,” as the well-known GTA speedrunner and YouTuber DarkViperAU (2 million subscribers) describes in the comments section of her video.
DarkViperAU, who himself often denounces abuses on the platform, brought the case on X to the attention of a wider audience and donated $1,000 of his own money toward legal fees. He commented on the incident in no uncertain terms:
“[…] Success on YouTube should not be determined by how efficiently you exploit others. This behavior will only decrease if the consequences for it occur more frequently.”
If EvenBadWolves is successful in court, it would send an important signal to the entire industry. Content theft, whether by “reaction streamers” or essay channels that copy the research and editing of smaller competitors, is a massive problem that YouTube often only deals with through automated systems.
