Build a compliant 17 U.S.C. §512(c)(3) takedown letter, checked live as you type
🔒 Nothing you type leaves your browser. The letter is assembled by local JavaScript — no upload, no logging.
After a counter-notice, the platform must put the material back between 10 and 14 business days — unless you file a court action or start a Copyright Claims Board proceeding and give the provider's designated agent notice of it (17 U.S.C. §1507(d)). Business days here mean Monday–Friday; federal holidays can push the real dates later.
| Element | What it actually requires | Without it |
|---|---|---|
| (i) Signature | Physical or electronic signature of the owner or authorized agent | Notice fails; unsigned notices are treated as never received |
| (ii) Work identified | The copyrighted work claimed infringed — or a representative list if many works | Provider can't tell what's yours; notice is deficient |
| (iii) Infringing material | The material to be removed, plus enough info (URLs) to locate it | "Someone is stealing my photos" with no link is legally nothing |
| (iv) Contact info | Address, telephone, and email of the complaining party | Provider has no way to follow up; notice is deficient |
| (v) Good-faith statement | Statement of good-faith belief the use isn't authorized by owner, agent, or law | Notice is deficient under §512(c)(3)(B) |
| (vi) Perjury statement | Accuracy statement, under penalty of perjury, of authority to act for the owner | Notice is deficient — and the only element that's sworn |
Why the checklist matters: under §512(c)(3)(B), a notice missing any element doesn't count as valid notice at all. The provider keeps its safe harbor while ignoring you — which is exactly the outcome you sent the letter to avoid.
| Route | Best for | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Provider's designated agent | Any hosted site, store, or app | The legally canonical route. Search the Copyright Office's DMCA Designated Agent Directory; US providers claiming safe harbor must list one |
| Google legal removals (reportcontent.google.com) | Search results, images, Blogger pages | The form collects the same six elements; track decisions in the dashboard |
| YouTube Copyright Center | Videos, reuploads, clips | Full takedown flow inside Studio; repeated strikes end channels |
| Social platform IP forms (Meta, TikTok, X) | Posts, profiles, ads | Each runs its own notice-and-takedown process on §512 lines |
| Host, registrar, or CDN | Sites that ignore direct notices | One step up the stack; safe-harbor rules pull the same six elements |
| Copyright Claims Board (ccb.gov) | After a counter-notice | A CCB proceeding under §1507(d) stops auto-restoration; caps $15,000/work, $30,000 total ($7,500/$15,000 for works not timely registered) |
Send the notice to the platform first, not the infringer. Escalating to the host is your follow-up when the platform stalls. For what paid services charge to do this paperwork for you, see the DMCA takedown cost calculator.
| Takedown notice §512(c) | Counter-notice §512(g) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who sends it | Copyright owner or agent | Uploader whose content was removed |
| Core statements | Good faith + penalty-of-perjury authority | Penalty-of-perjury belief it was a mistake or misidentification |
| Effect | Platform must act expeditiously to remove | Platform must restore in 10–14 business days |
| Escalation | Host, registrar, or court | Your court action or CCB proceeding freezes the restore |
| Wrongful use | §512(f) liability: damages + costs + fees | Same §512(f) exposure for false counter-claims |
A DMCA notice is one of the few legal documents with a checklist written into the statute itself. Section 512(c)(3)(A) of the Copyright Act lists exactly six things a takedown notice must contain, and under §512(c)(3)(B) a notice that fails to comply substantially with that list shall not be considered notice — the platform can disregard it without risking its safe harbor. This tool exists to make failing that checklist hard.
The generator assembles a plain-text letter with each statutory element in place and labeled, so the recipient's agent can process it fast and you can see exactly what you're swearing to. It tracks compliance live: fill in your name and the work, paste the infringing URLs, leave both sworn statements checked, and the panel reads 6 of 6. Clear one and the letter visibly breaks, marking itself deficient instead of quietly shipping a bad notice.
Describe the copyrighted work precisely — title, what it is, where it's published. Paste every infringing URL, one per line; if you're noticing many works, the work description serves as the representative list §512(c)(3)(A)(ii) allows. Find the platform's designated agent in the Copyright Office directory, email the generated letter, and keep a copy with the date. Before sending, reread the two sworn statements: the perjury language in element (vi) is real.
Photographer Dana Rivera finds two of her Harbor Light images sold as posters on shop.example.net. She fills the form with the defaults shown above — her name, the series description with its portfolio URL, both infringing pages — and the generator produces a 6-of-6 compliant letter running — words, ready to email to the agent listed for the shop in the Copyright Office directory. No lawyer, no filing fee, no registration number needed.
Now the clock. The shop has two options: remove the listings, or risk its safe harbor. Suppose the uploader counter-notices on September 15, 2026. The platform must restore the posters between September 29 (10 business days) and October 5, 2026 (14 business days) — unless Dana files a court action or opens a Copyright Claims Board case and notifies the agent, which freezes the restore under §1507(d). At the CCB her statutory claim would cap at $15,000 per work — $7,500 if the work isn't timely registered; in federal court, timely registration could support up to $30,000 per work — the difference the copyright damages estimator works through.
No. Any copyright owner, or someone they authorize to act for them, can send a valid takedown notice, and nothing gets filed with a court. The notice just has to contain the six elements listed in 17 U.S.C. §512(c)(3). A lawyer becomes worth the fee when the dispute escalates — a counter-notice, a repeat infringer, or a claim big enough to sue over.
No. Registration is not required to send a DMCA notice, ask a platform to remove content, or negotiate a license. Registration gates the courtroom, not the takedown: for US works you must register before you can sue, and to claim statutory damages of $750 to $30,000 per work, registration must predate the infringement or arrive within three months of publication.
The statute requires the provider to act expeditiously to remove or disable access once it has the notice — no fixed deadline is written into §512(c). In practice the big platforms process valid notices within a few days, often 24 to 72 hours. If the notice is missing a required element, the provider can treat it as deficient and ignore it without losing safe harbor.
The platform notifies you and must restore the material within 10 to 14 business days after receiving the counter-notice, unless you file a court action seeking an order or start a Copyright Claims Board proceeding and notify the provider's designated agent. Once restored, your route is the courtroom or the CCB, not another identical notice.
Yes. Under §512(f), anyone who knowingly materially misrepresents that material is infringing can be liable for the resulting damages, plus costs and attorneys' fees. Courts in the Ninth Circuit have also held senders must consider whether the use is fair use before takedown. The safe posture: only notice works you own, describe them precisely, and keep the URLs exact.
Only where the host has a reason to care about US law. §512 is a US statute, but platforms that operate in the US usually honor notices globally to keep their safe harbor. A host with no US presence can ignore you; many countries run their own notice-and-takedown regimes, and enforcement there follows local law instead.