Usually, it is big companies like Sony who take down YouTube videos and slap copyright claims on them. But, in a strange turn of events, Sony’s Trailer for Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales has been wiped from YouTube due to a copyright claim.
The removal of the trailer for the upcoming PS5 exclusive was first noticed by users over on the r/PS5 subreddit. The trailer is gone from its original URL and is now replaced by the YouTube copyright claim notice.
The YouTube notice states that the Spider-Man PS5 trailer is no longer available due to a copyright claim by a company called Gameloft S.E.
So who exactly is Gameloft S.E. and why have they claimed copyright on the Spider-Man PS5 trailer?
According to Wikipedia, Gameloft S.E. is a French Video Games publisher based in Paris. The company was founded in 1999 and was founded by Ubisoft founder Michael Guillemot.
Why Gameloft has claimed copyright on Sony’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales trailer is an absolute mystery. This NBC article, states that Sony has owned the Spider-Man character since 1985. How a company can claim copyright over something they don’t own or have the rights to is mindboggling.
Gameloft, the company who have made this obviously spurious copyright claim is primarily a mobile game publisher. A search of their website doesn’t reveal any game or product connected to Spider-Man at all. So who knows what’s going on.
Spider-Man PS5 trailer still available on Marvel’s channel
Oddly enough, the announcement trailer for Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is still available on Marvel’s YouTube Channel. I swapped the unavailable video for this one earlier on the Spider-Man: Miles Morales trailer page.
As far as I know, both trailers were the same, and the Marvel version still has PlayStation, and PlayStation Studios logo’s on it.
Could this copyright claim be the fault of YouTube’s dodgy Content ID system? Or could this be some form of corporate shenanigans and Gameloft has set out to annoy Sony in this way?
Who knows. No doubt Corporate Lawyers are busy sending out legal letters and counter-claims in an effort to solve this problem. We will probably never know why the video got taken down. My guess is the video will magically reappear on YouTube once Sony throws the full weight of their legal team at Gameloft and YouTube.
Update: 22/6/20 – As I guessed, the Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Announcement trailer is now back up on the PlayStation YouTube channel.
