Notice and takedown, step by step.
A notice arrives claiming a subscriber is sharing something they should not. The statute prescribes what a valid notice contains, what the provider does with it, what the subscriber can say back, and when material comes back online. Here is the sequence.
Six steps, with a clock on the last two.
Notice received
A copyright owner (or their agent) sends a notification to the designated agent. A valid notice identifies the work, identifies the material claimed to infringe with enough detail to locate it, gives the sender's contact information, and carries the statements and signature § 512(c)(3) requires.
Notice checked
A notice missing the statutory elements is not a valid notice. The statute even says what to do with one that substantially complies but is deficient: try to contact the sender or take reasonable steps to get a compliant notice.
Material acted on
On a valid notice the provider acts expeditiously to remove or disable access to the material — and, where the provider is an access provider rather than a host, the notice is matched to the subscriber account through the IP address and time in the notice.
Subscriber notified
The subscriber whose material was removed is told promptly. For an ISP forwarding a notice, the subscriber learns what was claimed, when, and what the provider's policy says happens next.
Counter-notice, if any
The subscriber may send a counter-notification under § 512(g) — identifying the material, consenting to jurisdiction, and stating under penalty of perjury a good-faith belief the removal was a mistake. The provider forwards it to the original sender.
Restore or hold
If the copyright owner does not notify the provider within the statute's window that it has filed an action, the provider restores the material — not less than 10 and not more than 14 business days after receiving the counter-notice.
Notices, answered.
What has to be in a DMCA takedown notice?
Section 512(c)(3) lists the elements: a physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act for the copyright owner; identification of the copyrighted work; identification of the infringing material with information reasonably sufficient to locate it; the sender's contact information; a statement of good-faith belief that the use is not authorized; and a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information is accurate and the sender is authorized. A notice without these is not a compliant notice.
What does "expeditiously" mean?
The statute does not give a number of hours or days. It expects the provider to act promptly once a valid notice arrives, and to have a process that makes prompt action possible every time — not a mailbox that is checked when someone remembers.
Does an ISP have to take down anything? It does not host the material.
An access provider does not host its subscribers' files, so there is nothing to "take down" in the hosting sense. What it does have is the § 512(a) transitory-communications safe harbor and, for it, the repeat-infringer condition: notices are matched to subscriber accounts, forwarded, logged, and counted toward the provider's repeat-infringer policy.
What is a counter-notice?
The subscriber's formal reply under § 512(g): identification of the material that was removed, a statement under penalty of perjury of a good-faith belief that it was removed by mistake or misidentification, consent to the jurisdiction of the federal district court, and a signature. A valid counter-notice starts the restoration clock.
What if the notice is wrong or abusive?
Section 512(f) makes anyone who knowingly, materially misrepresents that material is infringing — or that it was removed by mistake — liable for the damages that result. A provider is not the judge of the underlying copyright dispute; its job is to run the process correctly and keep the record of having done so.
The notice is the middle.
Designated agent registration → · The repeat-infringer policy → · DMCA records production at Subsentio →