How to Send a DMCA Takedown Notice
Digital piracy of copyright protected works available on the Internet has become a growing threat to all content creators and distributors. For many this can eat away at already small, but vital profits. It is, therefore, critical that creators understand the legal process used to remove these works when they are made available illegally online.
To remove works that are made available illegally online, a creator needs to own the copyright in his/her work and must follow the steps outlined in Section 512(c)(3) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to insure that such works are removed in a timely manner; Section 512 (b)(1) affords Internet service providers immunity from copyright infringement lawsuits, but only if they quickly remove any infringing content once notified.
The notices demanding that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) remove access to infringing content are referred to as DMCA takedown notices. If discover your work being illegally distributed online then you must first locate the relevant contact information for the website with the infringing content. Many of the larger websites will designate email addresses to contact specifically for DMCA takedown notices, while smaller websites may only have a general contact email address or form. Once you have the appropriate contact information, then you can follow the template outlined below to create your own DMCA takedown notice.
DMCA Takedown notices have to follow a certain format or they will be deemed invalid and they may be ignored. Below is a sample of what needs to be included in a DMCA takedown notice with instructions on how to fill it out. Legitimate companies will respond to these notices and often forward them onto the infringing user in a timely manner to preserve their legal immunity. However, not all sites claiming to have copyrighted content are legitimate and some are operating credit card scams, so you may not always get a response.
SAMPLE NOTICE
I am #1 Name of Owner, author and copyright holder of #2 Title of Work (#3 Another Way to Easily Identify the Work (i.e. link to infringing content, ISBN, etc)). On #4 Date, all rights to this work reverted to me, the author. That includes hard cover, paperback, electronic and audio editions. Please remove the above work from your site immediately or risk losing immunity under DMCA Section 512(c). I make the preceding statement under penalty of perjury, that the above information is accurate and I am the copyright owner.
#5 Full Name of Content Owner
#6 Address of Content Owner (Street Address)
#7 Address of Content Owner (City, State, Zip)
#8 Phone number of Content Owner
#9 Email Address of Content Owner