Popular technology news outlet PC Mag was the latest outlet to run a story about a recent ruling in the on-going legal battle between Jonathan “Frauditor Troll” Huneault and Christopher “Denver Metro Audits” Cordova that may impact every content creator who puts out “reaction” style videos.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/making-reaction-videos-could-get-risky-if-you-use-youtube-ripping-tools
‘Ripping’ Clips for YouTube Reaction Videos can Violate the DMCA, Court Rules
Last month, U.S. Magistrate Judge Virginia K. DeMarchi let stand Cordova’s claims that Huneault violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by allegedly downloading Cordova’s footage without permission via ripping tools.
As Huneault’s former attorney, “Superstar” Steve Vondran pointed out, the accusation was left to stand, but his then client has not been found guilty of any wrongdoing at this point. He asserted that there was no real proof that his former client used downloading software to obtain Cordova’s work and that screen recording was an alternative option.
Downloading tools bypass YouTube copyright protection to provide a copy of footage that can be used in reaction videos. Some say their use is essential as screen recording is not viable when lengthy clips are used.
They also argue that “fair use” protections should limit DMCA circumvention liability. In other words, despite laws against downloading content, the download itself is essential to transforming the material into a new form as part of a reaction video.
The eventual ruling in this lawsuit will impact far more than the small community of First Amendment reaction video creators. As reaction and commentary channels grow on YouTube, every creator who uses third party software to download copies of videos to use in their video product may end up facing legal problems.
Attorney Vondran has since been replaced by Attorney “Sinsational” Simon Lin; despite no longer working on the case, according to Huneault, Vondran has agreed to pay any financial penalties in regards to an anti-SLAPP motion that is pending before the court.
Huneault has made recent comments minimizing the actual illegalities of downloading content and instead attempted to provide a boogey man in the form of Cordova’s attorney, That Randall S. “The Unhinged Attorney” Newman, Esq.
The Canadian YouTuber contended that Newman would sue creators due to his “feelings” on a recent video and implied that hundreds of creators could be at risk due to the whims of a single attorney.
It’s unclear how an attempt to stir up public outrage against attorney Newman would alter the pending claim in the lawsuit. However, a multitude of so-called anti-auditing YouTubers released videos over the weekend highlighting statements attributed to Newman in an apparently aligned attempt to discredit the attorney.
In actual case news, on Tuesday, Attorney Newman filed a request to file a second amended complaint with the court.
Last month, Judge DeMarchi dismissed one of the claims Cordova made against Huneault in his original complaint. Cordova was seeking a request for a declaration that the use of his “Courthouse Fail” video by Huneault did not qualify as fair use under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
The Judge granted Huneault’s motion to dismiss that claim as Cordova’s registration of the video had not been granted by the U.S. Copyright Office. However, Cordova was granted the registration of the video on February 6, 2026, and Newman is now seeking to reinstate the claim.
Huneault, nor Attorney Lin, has responded to Newman’s request as of press time.
Finally, Huneault’s on-going GoFundMe campaign to help finance his lawsuit has gone a week without a new donation.
Jose “Chille” DeCastro’s Stand with Chille, Delete Lawz, Federal Trial Feb 9, 2026 campaign won Tuesday with $1,256.00 in new donations.
The First Amendment Protection Agency took second place with $225.00 in new donations.
No other campaigns that we follow received donations for Tuesday.
