How to file a DMCA takedown

Step two: confirm you own it and that it is protected

Copyright protects original expression, not facts, ideas, prices, specifications or short phrases. Confirm that what was taken is on the protected side of that line.

Then confirm it is yours. If a freelancer wrote the copy or a photographer shot the images, the default US rule is that they own it unless there is a written assignment. Paying an invoice does not transfer copyright. Find the contract before you sign anything under penalty of perjury.

Step three: consider fair use, properly

The good-faith statement in a notice says the use is not authorised by the owner, its agent, or the law. Fair use is the law. In Lenz v. Universal the Ninth Circuit held a rights holder must form a good-faith belief that a use is not fair before sending a notice.

The duty is to consider it, not to be right. Walk the four factors in § 107 — purpose and character, nature of the work, amount taken, and effect on the market — and write down the answer. Our fair-use check does this and gives you a record to keep.

Step four: find the right recipient

This is where most DIY notices die. The notice goes to the hosting provider’s registered designated agent, not to the site owner and not to a support inbox. A notice to the wrong address creates no obligation at all.

1. 1

   Look up the host

   A DNS and RDAP lookup gives you the hosting provider, the registrar and an abuse contact. Our host lookup tool does it free.

2. 2

   Check the agent directory

   The Copyright Office maintains a public directory of registered designated agents. Check it every time — agents change, and last year’s address does nothing.

3. 3

   Handle the proxy case

   If the site is behind Cloudflare or similar, the proxy will not remove content but will forward the complaint and name the real host. Expect one extra hop.

4. 4

   Use the platform process where there is one

   Etsy, Amazon, Shopify, Instagram and YouTube each run their own. A host-style notice sent elsewhere will not reach them.

Step five: write the notice

Six elements, all of them required: a signature, identification of your work, identification of the infringing URLs, your contact details, the good-faith statement, and a statement of accuracy and authority under penalty of perjury.

Only that last statement is sworn. People avoid filing because they believe they are swearing to the legal conclusion that infringement occurred. They are not — the perjury statement covers the accuracy of the information and your authority to act.

Keep it short, factual and checkable. Do not include a payment demand: it is not a statutory element, it muddies the good-faith statement, and in some jurisdictions it is prohibited. Our generator assembles the document in your browser.

Step six: send it, then follow up

Send from an address you monitor, keep a copy of exactly what you sent, and note the date. There is no statutory deadline for a host to act — the word is “expeditiously”, which has never been given a number — so anyone quoting you a turnaround is guessing.

If nothing happens in a couple of weeks, follow up quoting the original date and reference. If there is still nothing, the escalation order is the proxy, then search de-indexing as a separate notice, then the registrar as a genuine last resort. Going to the registrar early can take a whole domain down and it poisons the channel for everyone.

When content does come down, verify it yourself, then check again at a week and at a month. Pages get removed from one URL and reappear at another.

What it costs you to do this yourself

Money, nothing. Time, more than people expect, and the time is spread out in a way that makes it easy to abandon halfway.

• Capturing evidence

  15 minutes per page, once you know what to capture

• Confirming ownership

  Minutes if you wrote it; an afternoon if a freelancer did and you need the contract

• The fair-use consideration

  10 minutes with a structured check

• Finding the designated agent

  10 minutes, longer if the site sits behind a proxy

• Writing the notice

  15 minutes with a generator, an hour from scratch

• Following up and escalating

  The part that actually costs you — weeks of low-grade attention

For one page on a cooperative host this is an afternoon and you should simply do it. The arithmetic changes with volume: a dozen URLs across three sites, each needing its own lookup, notice, follow-up and re-check, is a part-time job that arrives at the worst moment.