Feb 10, 2025
How to Handle a DMCA Takedown Request (Whether Sending or Receiving)
Picture this: You publish a fantastic blog post (or video) that gets tons of engagement from search engines and social media. But just as you’re starting to reap the rewards for your hard work, you discover someone has copied your content and posted it on their site. They’ve even outranked you in search results. In this situation, issuing a DMCA takedown google request and the offending website can help you regain your content and restore your site’s standing. This article will help you navigate the DMCA takedown process—whether issuing a request to protect your content or responding to one to keep your site compliant—without legal headaches or unnecessary delays.
Bustle's copycat detection tool can help you achieve your goals by quickly identifying copied content and providing the necessary resources to respond.
Table of Contents
What Is a DMCA Takedown Request and Why Does It Matter?
A DMCA takedown request is a legal process that allows copyright holders to request the removal of infringing content under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This applies to websites, hosting providers, and search engines. DMCA takedown requests matter because of safe harbor protections for online platforms and the consequences of non-compliance. Requirements for filing a DMCA takedown request include identifying infringing content and explaining how you are affected.
Understanding DMCA Takedown Requests: What They Are and When to Use Them
A “DMCA request” refers to a legal notice sent to infringing website owners and service providers. Also known as a “DMCA Takedown” or “DMCA Takedown request,” the DMCA request process is a well-established and accepted internet standard followed by website owners and internet service providers everywhere.
When and Why You Can File a DMCA Takedown—Even Without Copyrighted Material
Content owners can process a takedown notice against a website owner and/or an Online Service Provider (e.g., ISP, hosting company, etc.) if their property is found online without their permission.
Note: Although the DMCA is part of US Copyright law, a DMCA Takedown does not always require the content to be copyrighted to process a takedown notice and for the content to be taken down by the website owner or OSP. Simply Stated, the fact the content is yours, or if the subject in the photo or video is you, can be reason enough to process a takedown notice AND for the content to be taken down.
What Do I Need to File a DMCA Takedown Request?
Three main pieces of information are needed to start filing a DMCA Takedown Notice:
1. Infringing URL
Where is your stolen content on the internet (or platforms like Facebook or TikTok)?
What is the link from which you want the content removed?
Be sure to provide the URL or website/webpage link of the content you want removed. If the stolen content is an image or video located on a website, give the direct link to the content contained in the site. Copy and paste the infringing text, or provide the URL of the infringing image if required.
2. Source URL
Where was your content located when it was stolen?
Was it on your social media profile, like Facebook or Reddit?
Was it from my website?
Provide the URL where it was stolen from, even if the content has already been removed from its original location. The original URL is still valuable to the notice. If it was not online, you could reference:
Cell phones
Computers
Cameras, etc.
If it was online, such as a website or cloud storage, provide the link to the exact page from which it was stolen. You can upload the original content to a cloud storage service and give that URL with an explanation of where it was initially stolen.
3. Description of Ownership
What is the content owner's name, and how was the content stolen?
How is this content yours?
How do you own it?
Did you create it, buy it, copyright it?
Who is claiming ownership of the content?
Who is authorized to file the DMCA Takedown?
When did you make the content, and when was the content stolen?
An example description would sound like: “My photo I took of myself on my camera was stolen from my Google Drive and was posted on this website without my knowledge and I would like it removed.”
Related Reading
• Instagram DMCA
• Etsy DMCA
• Tiktok DMCA
• YouTube DMCA Takedown
• Instagram Copyright Infringement
• Copycat Website
What Information Should I Provide to Process a Takedown Request?
Electronic or Physical Signature
At the top of the list for valid DMCA takedown notice is an electronic or physical signature of the owner or the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest. If you file a DMCA takedown notice online, you can provide an electronic signature by typing your name. Otherwise, signing the document physically and scanning it for upload will suffice.
Identify The Copyrighted Work
You must identify the copyrighted work (or works) you claim have been infringed. If there are multiple works, you can list them all.
Describe The Infringing Material
Describe the material you claim is infringed on and the location where the original or an authorized copy of the copyrighted work exists. For example, list the URL of the website page where it is lawfully posted, the name, edition, and pages of a book from which an excerpt was copied, etc.
Describe Where The Infringing Material Is Located
Provide a clear description of where the infringing material is located on the website, including, as applicable, its URL so the claimed infringed material can be located.
Your Personal Information
You must also provide your:
Name
Address
Telephone number
E-mail address
This information is necessary so the website owner knows who to contact if they have questions about the takedown notice.
A Statement Of Good Faith
You must include a statement that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by:
The copyright owner
Its agent
The law
A Statement Of Truth
You must include a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.
Who Can File A DMCA Request?
Content creators/owners
Copyright owners
Content publishers or distributors (with permission of the content or copyright owners)
NFT owners
Code writers and publishers
Social media users and participants
Subject contained within the content and published without permission (special considerations may be required)
What Kind Of Websites Will Process DMCA Requests?
Infringing content is removed or "taken down" from many websites and platforms.
Examples include:
From a UGC (User Generated Content) Platform (like Facebook and TikTok), upon receipt of a DMCA Takedown Notice sent by or on behalf of the infringed content owner, distributor, publisher, etc.
By the website owner upon receipt of a DMCA Takedown Notice from the website owner's ISP / Hosting company. This would occur when the ISP / Hosting company receives a notice sent by or on behalf of the content owner, distributor, publisher, etc.
By the website owner upon receipt of a DMCA Takedown Notice from the, or on behalf of, the content owner, distributor, publisher, etc.
By the ISP or hosting company of the website publishing the infringing content. This occurs because the website owner has not voluntarily complied with a DMCA Notice. The ISP or Hosting company must comply with the Takedown notice.
When an infringing website is taken down or taken "offline" by its ISP or hosting company, this occurs because the website owner does not voluntarily comply with a Takedown notice as described above.
The Role of the DMCA Takedown Notice in Protecting Your Content Rights
These takedown actions occur upon receipt of a DMCA Takedown Notice, which uses the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) stipulations. This Act directly addresses the take down of (copyright) infringed content from a website publishing content in violation of the copyright protection act or content being used without permission or not by the sworn statement of the content owner. Content may be removed in many ways, but the process starts with a Takedown Notice.
Related Reading
• How to Report Copyright Infringement on Etsy
• Report Infrigement Amazon
• Report Shopify Seller
• How to Report a Scammer on Instagram
• Tiktok Copyright Infringement
• Facebook Copyright Infringement Notice
• How to Submit a DMCA Takedown Notice
How to Issue a DMCA Takedown Request (Or Handle Your Own)
Understand the Basics of DMCA Takedown Requests
A DMCA takedown notice applies to where the content is physically hosted. So, people outside the U.S. can still file DMCA complaints. For content hosted outside the U.S., many hosting providers will still honor DMCA complaints; legally, they are not obliged to comply. Website owners tend to forget that a DMCA takedown doesn’t require the content to be copyrighted to process the takedown or for the request to have the content taken down acted upon by the website owner or ISP.
Identify Infringed Content
Start by determining what content has been infringed upon.
DMCA takedown notices apply to a wide variety of digital content, including:
Text (TXT, RTF, DOC, DOCX, PDF, PPT, etc.)
Images (BMP, EPS, SVG, JPG, JPEG, GIF, WEBP, PNG, PSD, RAW, TIFF, etc. This includes on social media)
Video (MPG, AVI, RM, MOV, Quicktime, Windows Media Player, RealPlayer)
Music (AIF, AU, MP3, MP4, MID, WAV, etc.)
Over the last decade, it has become essential for bloggers, webmasters, and hosts to understand how the DMCA procedure works so everyone can keep their content protected and know how to deal with complaints or notices when they arrive.
Reach Out to the Offending Website Owner
Before filing a DMCA takedown notice, contact the offending website owner directly. They may remove your content right away. If the website owner doesn’t have a contact form, try to find their email address using a tool like Hunter.io.
Here is a DMCA takedown notice template you can use:
Hello,
I work for [COMPANY], and we discovered that your website (https://domain.com) uses our content. Here are some examples of our content:
https://yourdomain.com/~ [EXACT CONTENT/IMAGE LOCATION]
https://yourdomain.com/~
And here are copies on your site:
https://domain.com/~ [EXACT CONTENT/IMAGE LOCATION]
https://domain.com/~
Please remove all copyrighted content belonging to [COMPANY] immediately; otherwise, we’ll have to proceed with filing a DMCA complaint. I have created a case ID #xxxx to track this issue until it is resolved. If you have any questions regarding this, let me know.
Thanks.
Because people are busy and sometimes miss emails, you should try sending an email more than once. Here, you can find a few solid tips on how to find anyone’s email address.
Find the Web Host of the Infringing Site
If the website owner doesn’t respond to your inquiries, you’ll need to find the website’s host so that you know where to file the DMCA complaint. An easy way to do this is to look up the website’s IP address. You can either ping it or use a free online tool like Domain Tools. Once you have the IP address, you can take it and look it up using the ARIN Whois Service. They have a good database of records and comments about which companies own IPs. If they are running behind a CDN or proxy such as Cloudflare, this makes it a lot harder as they will show as the owner of the IP address.
Submit The DMCA Takedown Complaint
You must submit the complaint now that you know where the person’s content is hosted. Most providers have easy ways to access their complaints. Look on their contact pages or in the footer for anything that says “complaints” or “abuse.”
Here are a couple of links to some common providers.
Google Cloud Platform Abuse
DigitalOcean Abuse
Linode Abuse
Vultr Abuse
Contact a DMCA agent directly if you can’t find an online form. This is usually a long-drawn-out process. Contacting the web host or ISP provider directly is usually the fastest way. You can also pay a professional team to handle the DMCA takedown.
What to Include in the DMCA Takedown Complaint
You must include the following information to ensure your takedown complaint is handled correctly.
Physical or electronic signature.
The location and identification of the material you claim is infringing (this could be URLs, etc.)
Your contact information, address, phone number, mailing address, etc.
Statement of good faith that the copyright owner or you do not authorize the use of the material.
A statement that everything is accurate (again, remember you are liable under penalty of perjury).
DMCA Takedown Template
Here is a DMCA takedown template that we use. Feel free to copy and modify it:
Subject Line: Takedown Notice Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998
My name is [NAME], and I’m the [POSITION] at [COMPANY].
This is a notice by Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (”DMCA”) requesting that you immediately cease to provide access to the following copyrighted material. A website that your company hosts (according to WHOIS information) infringes on copyrighted material our company owns.
The original [CONTENT/IMAGES], of which we own the exclusive copyrights, can be found at these URLs:
[EXACT CONTENT/IMAGE LOCATION]
The unauthorized and infringing [CONTENT/IMAGES] can be found at this IP address/URL:
IP address:
[EXACT CONTENT/IMAGE LOCATION]
My contact information is as follows:
Name
Company Address
Phone
The use of the described material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or by operation of law. The information in this notice is accurate and up to date, and I can confirm that [COMPANY] is the copyright owner.
Should you wish to discuss this further, please contact me directly.
Signed:
Name
Date:
Getting the Content Removed from Search Engines
If the original content is taken down, it will automatically be removed from the search engines. If the above process fails, you can also submit a complaint directly with Google and Bing. While this won’t always get it removed from the person’s site, it will at least remove it from SERPs so that nobody can find it. It will also ensure that it never ranks over your content.
How Long Does a DMCA Notice Take?
Generally, a DMCA takedown notice will take around 72 hours. We’ve seen them go quickly (within 24 hours) and drag on for 6+ months.
This depends on a couple of things:
How fast is the company processing the DMCA requests?
The location of the content.
Remember, DMCA is only applicable to copyrighted material in the United States. Therefore, you might never hear back if you’re emailing a company outside of the United States. Although most hosting providers, regardless of location, will try to help.
Find and Take Down Copycats with One-click Today
Bustem is a robust copycat detection and removal tool for e-commerce merchants. Our platform automatically scans billions of websites to identify unauthorized use of your store's content, including:
Images
Videos
Headlines
Text
Once we spot copycats, we streamline the entire takedown process with pre-filled DMCA forms and comprehensive case management. Built by people who know the game inside out, our service offers 24/7 monitoring, instant detection, and bulk takedown capabilities to protect your brand assets.
With over 2 million DMCA notices filed daily and businesses losing $29 billion annually to content theft, we've made protection simple and cost-effective. Bustem helps you identify and eliminate copycats efficiently, whether dealing with competitors:
Using your product images
Copying your ad content
Stealing your copy
Get a free scan to see who’s been stealing your content. With Bustem, you can find and take down copycats with one click today.
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