PC Gaming

"Using the name" would be a trademark violation, not copyright, and that's not a claim I've heard made. It sounds like he's very clear that it's his project.

This is exactly DMCA trolling. If he is not using or sharing any IP (game assets, logos, images, characters, code, etc.) in his mods, then he's not violating their copyright. Making a program that interacts with their IP is not a copyright violation, because he did not distribute any of their IP.

Unless I'm missing something. I haven't been following this, but it does seem like a perfect example of DMCA abuse.

Even if he's sharing video footage of the mod working with their game, that's likely protected. (I think it's called "Fair Use" in the US?) Nintendo is a massive DMCA troll about that, claiming anyone sharing Let's Play footage of their games is copyright violation, and throwing out DMCAs like Halloween candy.

Which is why the DMCA is bad legislation; there are no penalties for abuse by copyright holders, and the cost to fight a DMCA takedown notice in the courts is prohibitive. There need to be harsh penalties for companies abusing the system to target content that a reasonable person would say is clearly protected use. Without that, the end result of the DMCA laws were clear, right from the start.

We need digital sovereignty so creators can host their content on local-law abiding servers that ignore America's corrupt, bullshit DMCA takedown system, and whose monetization can't be shut down by American payment processors.