The 'Office Depot DMCA' meme originated from a viral video capturing a confrontation between a customer and a store employee who insisted that filming inside the establishment was a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The absurdity of applying complex digital copyright law to a person holding a phone in a retail store immediately resonated with the internet. It has since become a go-to template for mocking people who confidently misuse legal jargon or act as overzealous 'hall monitors' in public spaces. The meme is typically used to highlight situations where someone tries to shut down an activity using nonsensical or exaggerated authority.