Bandai Namco has come under fire for reportedly sending a notice of infringement to a fan site that hosts mods for Tekken 8. If the notice is legitimate, it's the latest example of Bandai Namco going after mods in its games, having previously copyright-claimed videos that show modified Tekken gameplay.

The site admin of TekkenMods.com, Dennis Stanistan, shared a screenshot of the email earlier today. TekkenMods is ordered to remove any Tekken-related images and logos from a web page, as Bandai Namco argues that including them implies that it endorses the website.

"It has come to our attention that you are using Tekken(S) copyrighted image(s), logo(s) or other visible or concealed text within your website located at tekkenmods.com without having obtained prior written authorization," reads the email, shared by Stanistan. "This unauthorized use of Bandai/Namco's intellectual property falsely suggests Bandai/Namco's sponsorship or endorsement of your website. This practice infringes on Bandai/Namco's exclusive intellectual property rights."

The message goes on to "demand" that Stanistan removes all of these images and logos, but only from one URL - the web page for a Reina mod. Stanistan questions why this was the only page singled out in the notice, but it's not clear if this was explained in a reply.

Tekken Fans Hit Back
The move has been met with widespread criticism in the Tekken community, as players are frustrated to see Bandai Namco seemingly go after modders once again. Over in the Tekken subreddit, fans describe this as Bandai Namco "shooting [itself] in the foot", and say that this is "disappointing but not surprising."

It comes shortly after Bandai Namco frustrated the playerbase with an unpopular Tekken 8 update, adding a battle pass into the game post-launch. It was controversial enough to cause Tekken 8's Steam reviews to dip into "mixed", having previously been "mostly positive". The reviews are still mixed at the time of writing, with players accusing Bandai Namco of being "greedy".

Right now, TekkenMods is still up and running, but the URL mentioned in the email has been taken down by the mod's author. It's unclear why Bandai Namco took issue with that particular page and not the site as a whole, since Tekken imagery can be seen throughout.

bandai namco's sent a notice of infringement to tekkenmods pic.twitter.com/Ny5FPkSBar

— Dennis Stanistan (@DennisStanistan) April 9, 2024

Posted: Apr 14, 2024 2:05 pm
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://www.thegamer.com/tekken-mods-website-hit-with-legal-threat-from-bandai-namco/