DMCA

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DMCA counsel covers both sides of digital copyright, from sending and answering takedown notices to keeping your platform inside safe harbor and handling Section 1201 anti-circumvention, so rights holders can enforce and service providers stay protected.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act cuts two ways: it gives copyright owners a fast tool to pull infringing content offline, and it shields online service providers from liability for what their users post. We work both sides. For rights holders we enforce, and for platforms we keep you inside the safe harbor, and because we come from software, we understand the systems that make notice-and-takedown actually run.

Takedowns and Counter-Notices

When your work shows up on someone else's site, a properly drafted takedown notice triggers a prompt removal obligation across platforms, hosts, and search. We send notices that meet every statutory element so they cannot be brushed off. On the other side, when you receive a takedown we evaluate it and, where the removal is wrong, prepare a counter-notice to restore your legitimate content while managing the timing and litigation risk.

Keeping Your Safe Harbor

Platforms hosting user content depend on the DMCA safe harbor to limit copyright exposure, and that protection is conditional. We help you implement compliant notice-and-takedown procedures, designate and register a DMCA agent, and maintain the policies the statute requires. We also audit what you already have in place and flag the gaps that could quietly cost you the safe harbor before you ever realize it is at risk.

Repeat Infringers and Section 1201

Safe harbor also requires a real repeat-infringer policy, so we help you build one that satisfies the law and still treats users fairly when you decide whether to terminate. Separately, Section 1201 bars circumventing technological protection measures. We advise rights holders deploying those protections and parties who may need to circumvent for a legitimate purpose, working through the triennial rulemaking exemptions and fair use along the way.

Litigation and Global Reach

When informal enforcement stalls, we take DMCA claims to federal court over takedown failures, safe harbor disputes, and anti-circumvention violations, and we defend against improper notices, including Section 512(f) liability for knowing misrepresentation. Because content does not respect borders, we coordinate U.S. enforcement with foreign notice-and-takedown regimes like the EU framework, building a strategy that uses the right mechanism in each jurisdiction.

Frequently asked questions

A valid notice has to identify the copyrighted work, point to the specific infringing material and where it lives (usually a URL), and give your contact information. It also needs a statement that you have a good faith belief the use isn't authorized, a statement under penalty of perjury that the notice is accurate and you're authorized to act for the rights holder, and your physical or electronic signature. Leave any of these out and the platform can ignore it.

The statute says removal must be 'expeditious,' which it doesn't define with a hard number. In practice most platforms act within 24 to 72 hours. The reason speed matters for them is that dragging their feet can cost them their safe harbor protection from liability.

Once a valid counter-notice comes in, the platform has to put the content back within 10 to 14 business days. The one way to stop that is to file a copyright infringement lawsuit in federal court against the user and tell the platform you've done so before the window closes. If you don't sue, the content goes back up.

Safe harbor shields qualifying service providers from owing money for copyright infringement committed by their users. To get it, you have to follow the notice-and-takedown process and meet the other statutory conditions, such as registering a DMCA agent, having a repeat-infringer policy, and not profiting from infringement you can control. It protects platforms that host or transmit user content; it doesn't excuse infringement you commit yourself.

You need a good faith belief that the material is infringing before you send a notice. Sending one when you know the claim is false, or ignoring an obvious fair use, can expose you to liability under Section 512(f), including the other side's damages and attorneys' fees. When the call is close, it's worth getting it reviewed before you fire off the notice.

Section 1201 of the DMCA bars circumventing technological protection measures and also bars making or selling tools designed to do it, separate from any actual copyright infringement. There are narrow exemptions, and the Copyright Office reviews and updates them every three years through its triennial rulemaking. Whether what you want to do fits an exemption is fact-specific, so check before you rely on one.

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