Copyright infringement on the Web is so pervasive that it’s easy to resign yourself to it as a fact of life — something out of your control. When photographers send cease-and-desist letters and/or demands for payment to infringers, these are often ignored, which can be very frustrating. But there is another solution, thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA): you can send a takedown notice to the infringer’s ISP. Here’s how to do it.
DMCA Requirements
The DMCA states that while an ISP is not liable for transmitting information that may infringe a copyright, the ISP must remove materials from users’ Web sites that appear to constitute copyright infringement after it receives proper notice.
If you find a Web site that is using one of your images without permission, contact the hosting ISP to report the infringement. The letter you send is called a “DMCA takedown notice.” The ISP is required to make its agent’s name and address available so that you can send them notification. Your copyright does not have to be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office for you to take advantage of this DMCA provision.
You can find the infringing Web site’s hosting ISP through a “who is” search at sites like Domain Tools or Whois.net. When you notify the ISP of infringement, your letter must meet certain requirements. Specifically, your notification must:
• Be in writing;
• Be signed by the copyright owner or agent; your electronic signature is OK;
• Identify the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed (or a list of infringements from the same site);
• Identify the material that is infringing your work;
• Include your contact info;
• State that you are complaining in “good faith;”
• State that, “under penalty of perjury, that the information contained in the notification is accurate;” and
• State that you have the right to proceed (because you are the copyright owner or the owner’s agent).
A Sample Takedown Notice
Send a letter like the following to make your claim:
VIA Email at ISPHosting[at]isp.com
Re: Copyright Claim
To the ISP Hosting Company:
I am the copyright owner of the photographs being infringed at:
http://www.vividwildlife.com/Alaska.htm
http://www.vividwildlife.com/links.htm
Copies of the photographs being infringed are included to assist with their removal from the infringing Web sites.
This letter is official notification under the provisions of Section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) to effect removal of the above-reported infringements. I request that you immediately issue a cancellation message as specified in RFC 1036 for the specified postings and prevent the infringer, who is identified by its Web address, from posting the infringing photographs to your servers in the future. Please be advised that law requires you, as a service provider, to “expeditiously remove or disable access to” the infringing photographs upon receiving this notice. Noncompliance may result in a loss of immunity for liability under the DMCA.
I have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of here is not authorized by me, the copyright holder, or the law. The information provided here is accurate to the best of my knowledge. I swear under penalty of perjury that I am the copyright holder.
Please send me at the address noted below a prompt response indicating the actions you have taken to resolve this matter.
Sincerely,
/s/ Carolyn E. Wright
Email: carolyn@photoattorney.com
After the ISP receives the notice, it should remove the infringing materials.
Infringements are much too common these days. Fortunately, there are tools to fight them. The DMCA takedown notice is one of the more powerful ones.
[tags]copyright, photography law[/tags]
August 19th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Image on web-server, but not displayed
A copyright infringer reluctantly remove my photo from displaying on his website, but by linking to the file itself (not the page), I can see that my image is still stored on his webserver.
Do I have an rights? Can I ask the site owner or the ISP to remove it?
Documentation:
http://www.drspix.com/story2.htm
August 19th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
@Duane: absolutely, such copying of your photo onto a server without your permission is infringement. Ask the site owner and/or the ISP to remove it!
And register your photos!
August 19th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Don't forget that the Internet is international, for instance, European isp's are under no obligation to take down (supposedly) infringing content unless ordered by a judge. The DMCA had no meaning there.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:28 am
The DMCA is US law. Other countries may treat copyright infringements in the web differently. Check with your attorney for details.
August 23rd, 2008 at 11:26 pm
RFC 1036?
What kind of gobblegook is that. Citing a 1987 Usenet spec as a response to an infringement on an http server?
As a sysadmin, if I got that, I would just scratch my head and ignore it.
You really should consult with a networking professional in order to present your request for action to actually make some sort of sense.
Good luck.
September 10th, 2008 at 11:18 am
In regards to the question of international ISPs, it is worth noting that such companies are subject to their local law, which through the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty (adopted in Geneva on December 20, 1996) and subsequently accepted/adopted/ratified by the bulk of the nations in which such servers and service providers reside, while not subject directly to the DMCA, are still subject to upholding and recognizing copyright from other nations.
This brings the burden back to the ISP that they are bound under law to enforce copyright as their local law would apply.
Failure to do so, leaves the ISP subject to prosecution within their home jurisdiction. While it might seem unlikely that a person in say, the United States will pursue a suit or prosecution in, for example, China, the prospect is still very real, and the consequences to the ISP could be devastating. In this example, to the tune of about $60,000 USD or actual damages (if determinable) plus potentially up to 7 years imprisonment.
With regards to the citing of RFC 1036, this appears to be specifying the format of the cancellation message to be sent back to the complainant.
As a SysAdmin, it would be your responsibility to take such a notice to the legal representative(s) of your organization, to determine whether this legal notice is a true and legal notice, and to determine what if any response your organization is obligated to issue.
December 5th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I'm finding all of your articles to be very interesting. Thanks very much!
February 6th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Does this apply to MP3s? Someone has lifted on of my MP3s in its entirety and posted it on another site. -RS
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Wow, this is great stuff and I'm glad I ran across your blog. Keep it coming!
October 8th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
So this guy has a domain name registered in the US but has his own server in Poland, and he stole my entire web pages, took my OLD domain name and put up a site with my pages with ads for hotels and casinos in Europe. So is the company in the US liable in any way?
November 11th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Bravo! Practical, useful, and tough-minded advice. I have retweeted this article.
BTW, your personal photo is badly out of focus. If you want a new one, I'd be happy to oblige!
January 27th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Carolyn, what can you do in the case of a website the regularly violates DMCA? The scenario is a website that posts daily pictorials of images swiped from another professional community website. I have confirmed that the copyright holders are never asked permission personally being in touch with them. The ISP has been very helpful in offering to process DMCA requests and I've been notifying copyright holders with the takedown information when I can, but isn't there something to be done when a site is a regular violator of DMCA?
April 30th, 2010 at 4:02 am
Dear Carolyn,
BAck on a few comments to this post.
In the EU we have a legislation that is really close to the DMCA takedown notice. It is call the 2000/31/CE directive.
One poster says he has trouble with image that are not displayed on the website but is still on the web server.
My problem is the exact opposite. A website is hotlinking a photo from an authorized website to his website. Therefore my photo is visible on his website even though he has no right to use it. Can I use the DMCA takedown procedure to have him remove this?
Thank you.
September 24th, 2010 at 8:48 pm
Part of the takedown notice states 'Copies of the photographs being infringed are included'... Does that mean I have to attach original copies of the images, or does a list of the URLs at which the images exist suffice?
October 7th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
I am an artist and I have a woman in Austin using my business name that I have had for over 10 years. She is also an artist. She is hosting on MySpace and Twitter. I have contacted her via phone and just heard about this. Have not heard from her as of yet.
-Julia
October 27th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Hi,
I would like to know if any registrar in the world has to follow the DMCA Takedown Notice even when their company is not based in US ?
Thanks.
November 29th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
Can the same notice be used for removal of copyrighted material from TV commercials or just ISPs?
I had removed a couple of my images in a heartbeat with this notice, and I just found out an image of mine has been used for a TV commercial...
Thanks!
March 1st, 2011 at 2:36 pm
I have a video that I shot on Jan 28th 2011 that I posted on my YouTube Channel that went VIRAL almost IMMEDIATELY! I have found many places where people had ripped my video from my YouTube page and reposted it as their own on both YouTube and many other sites.
Here is my video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RNbbDRdvBw
I am doing my best to protect my content as this is the first time that I have had an experience such as this.
March 2nd, 2011 at 1:21 pm
Video from Youtube can be used on any website, you are just stupid to believe that someone stole it from you !
March 2nd, 2011 at 9:52 pm
mormon: RE: "from Youtube can be used on any website, you are just stupid to believe that someone stole it from you !"
Mormon,
That is incorrect. What anyone can do is use the immbed code and paste the player available from the YouTube page to repost the video in their blogs or websites without any editing and ALWAYS leading back to the Original video located on YouTube. What they CANNOT do is use software to rip the video file from the YouTube page and adit it as they wish to while removing the identity of the content owner and no linking the video back to YouTube.
Yes, my video is ALL OVER the web in the correct way and there is no problem with those who did so correctly. What there is a problem with are those who ripped it and uploaded it to their own servers or accounts on other video hosting websites as well as on YouTube while claiming it is their own work.
March 16th, 2011 at 11:03 am
Supremelaw.org has copied my entire links page, including my name, email etc. The problem is that he is using an offshore ISP in Germany. Does the German government honor USA DMCA takedown notices or do they have their own?
He posted it at http://www.supremelaw.org/copyright/ameritech.net/cole_links_menu.htm
March 16th, 2011 at 12:22 pm
What is an offshore ISP in Germany ? Which one ?
March 16th, 2011 at 12:40 pm
The ISP is located in Germany. The following is the information going to that ISP on their abuse email notification
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: stolen copyright material on web site
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2011 15:39:43 -0500
From: Cathy
To: abuse@servage.net
Hello. My name is Shawn Cole from the U.S.A.
You are hosting a web site called "Supremelaw.org" that is run by a man named Paul Andrew Mitchell. The IP address is 77.232.68.251 supremelaw.org from the European Union(EU) region in Western Europe. The hostmaster is located at hostmaster@servage.net I am writing to the abuse@servage.net FOR HELP TO REMOVE MY STOLEN WEB SITE FILES.
The web site domain was issued by eNom.com to the registered owner at: http://www.abovetopsecret.com and the registered owner of the domain email is : pvila@globallogistic.net and registered name of owner is Thomas Brown.
May 14th, 2011 at 11:24 pm
Thanks so much for this info, I hope they respond!
June 3rd, 2011 at 7:33 pm
It is worth mentioning that the process isn't always as simple as just sending the DMCA takedown letter. While the letter may take care of the site right away, it may also begin a counter-notice process.
June 7th, 2011 at 8:19 pm
How do you guys find out that one of your images has been stolen in the first place? Is there any easy way to search? I find it all a bit overwhelming myself and would appreciate any advice.
July 25th, 2011 at 5:46 am
I am dealing with a few people who stole my contents. The first one listened after I left a comment on their page about how I hold a license that does not allow copying and altering. The second one was a blogger. Commenting was not enabled. So I reported abuse at blogger and they removed it for me. The newest one has not responded at all. I bookmarked the page to see if he is taking any action. Then there is another one who kept my article title and bullet points correct, but changed the sentences in each paragraph. She is not a blogger but the owner of the site who has no address. But I used Whois to find her email address. I am going to send her a letter by using the above instructions. Lets see what she does.
July 27th, 2011 at 2:43 am
Hello Everyone,
I just found out that my photos were stolen off of facebook by an individual who retaliated against me to defamed my character. I did not know my photos were taken for the whole month. It had my professional modeling images with photographer's watermark. Thedirty.com copyrighted infringed the photos which is a serious violations. We are trying to find out who posted them on Thedirty.com. It is a horrible situation and looking into filing suit for libel and photo copygright infringement violations. You can see what it looks like here http://thedirty.com/2011/06/lisa-marie-scary/?replytocom=3047116#respond
I'd appreciate your help in any way possible. My email is lisamarieholte@yahoo.com Thank you!
August 2nd, 2011 at 5:57 pm
Do you have an example where an attorney has actually gone after someone for violating the DCMJ? If so, how much were they asking in damages?
October 12th, 2011 at 10:41 pm
I'm not sure that I have a proper DMCA claim, so I thought I'd post here and ask your opinion of the situation.
I was a member of a small to medium online forum. I published a list that mathematically ranked items in categories for a game. The items being ranked are, of course, property of the game's publisher but all of the work behind generating this list was my own doing. I've removed my list from this site for personal reasons, and now the admins are trying to repost this list in its entirety without my permission, pulling the data from backups, and posting it. Do you think I have a valid DMCA claim against this website?
Thank you!
November 23rd, 2011 at 1:48 pm
An online client who contracted voice work from me has not paid for services, as per agreement. If the client uses this voice over on his website or elsewhere, do I have recourse through DMCA?
December 7th, 2011 at 5:30 am
I work for a large magazine publishing company in South Africa. All our international titles are currently being sold as online magazines via a European supplier. We have now found piracy sites with some of latest monthly issues. I was told by our EU supplier that I am required to send them "legal take-down notices" to remove the magazines as we are the publisher of those titles. Does anyone know how this law would affect me in South Africa, if the take-down notice need to be in a specific format / letter? Or if I can just send them a legal notice sourced of twitter for example? Any help will be appreciated.
December 9th, 2011 at 11:53 pm
Can a DMCA notice make some take down stolen mugshot pictures of me from there website?
December 9th, 2011 at 11:56 pm
Can a DMCA notice take down mugshots from a site who stole them and posted on there site? And if it can what kind would it be?
December 27th, 2011 at 10:24 pm
Thank you, Carolyn. You really make my day. It's not only photographs but articles. This kind of behaviours is really annoying and.... It totally discounts our effort that we devoted to our work. What's the Google Algorithm criteria for this?
Thank you again for your help. I definite will come back.
December 31st, 2011 at 6:20 am
Hi, a few weeks ago, someone stole one of my article 'How to Reap Instant Profit From Your Web Site' and republish it on his blog. when I ask him to remove it from his website, he replied that he changed the contents of the article a bit, so now its no longer belong to me. what action I can take to force him to remove the article from his blog. Thanks qammar
January 5th, 2012 at 5:57 am
Thanks
Can you also tell what to send when someone has copied your copyrighted content ?
January 11th, 2012 at 9:37 pm
@KB
"RFC 1036?
What kind of gobblegook is that. Citing a 1987 Usenet spec as a response to an infringement on an http server?"
Agreed. It's gobblegook . And it has nothing to do with the requirements for a take-down notice either.