First, make a record of what you found
Pages change once their owners notice attention. Before you contact anyone, save what you can see: the full address of the page, a dated screenshot showing your photo in place, and the direct address of the image file itself if you can get it (right-click the photo and choose to copy the image address). If the page is public, submitting it to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine gives you an independent timestamp.
Then gather your side. The original file from your camera or phone, with its metadata intact, is the strongest single piece of evidence you have. Earlier posts of the same photo, the date you first published it, and any registration certificate all help. Keep them together; they are what an ownership statement rests on.
Check that the photo is yours to enforce
Under US law, copyright in a photograph belongs to the person who took it from the moment it is taken (17 U.S.C. § 201(a)). It does not belong to the person in the picture, or to whoever paid for the print, unless a signed document says so. That one rule settles more cases than any other.
- You took it yourself, including a selfie or a photo on a timer: it is yours.
- A friend or relative took it on their phone: the copyright is theirs, even though you are the subject. They can authorize a notice; you cannot send one in your own name.
- A photographer you hired took it: they own it unless your contract transfers the copyright in writing. A license to use the photos is not ownership.
- It came from a stock library: the library or the photographer holds the rights. Your license does not let you enforce against others.
Is it a copy, or a photo that looks like yours?
Reverse image search finds lookalikes as well as copies: a different sunset over the same beach, another photographer’s shot of the same building. Copyright protects your photograph, not the scene in it. Before going any further, open the two images side by side.
A copy of a photograph rarely stays the same file. It is cropped to a square, resized, run through a filter, or flipped so automatic matching misses it. All of those are still your photograph. Look for the things a second photographer could not reproduce by accident: the exact framing, a passer-by caught mid-step, the position of every cloud.
Consider whether the use could be fair
Before a notice goes out, the sender has to form a good-faith view that the use is not authorized by the law, and fair use is part of the law. The Ninth Circuit said so plainly in Lenz v. Universal Music Corp. (2015). The four factors in 17 U.S.C. § 107 are the purpose of the use, the nature of the work, how much was used, and the effect on the market for the original.
A news report discussing your photo, a critic reviewing your exhibition, or a parody built around it may well be fair. A shop using it as a product image, a rental listing using it to sell nights, or an account reposting it as their own content usually is not. Our fair-use check walks through the factors and gives you a dated record of your reasoning.
Work out who can actually remove it
The person who posted your photo can delete it, but has no obligation to answer you. The company that hosts it does have a reason to act: under § 512(c) a host keeps its protection from liability by removing material promptly once it receives a valid notice. That is why a notice goes to the host or platform, not the poster.
| Where the copy is | Who removes it | How it is reported |
|---|---|---|
| A website or blog | The hosting company | A notice to its designated agent, registered with the US Copyright Office |
| Instagram, Facebook, X, Pinterest, TikTok | The platform | The platform’s own copyright form |
| A marketplace listing | The marketplace | Its intellectual-property report, against the listing |
| Google Images results | A separate removal request; the page itself stays up |
Our free host lookup tells you which company serves a website and whether a proxy sits in front of it. For search results, see removing an image from Google.
Write the notice, or have it filed for you
A valid notice has six parts, listed in § 512(c)(3)(A): a signature, identification of the photograph, identification of where the copy is, your contact details, a statement of good-faith belief, and a statement under penalty of perjury that the information is accurate and that you are authorized to act. A notice that leaves one out does not oblige the host to do anything. Our notice drafter produces one with all six, free.
If you would rather not handle it, we file as your authorized agent. We compare each copy with your original, confirm who took the photo, weigh fair use, route each copy through the right channel and follow it up. You approve every notice and its price before it goes, and you are invoiced only once we have confirmed the copy is down. See how a matter runs and pricing.
What happens next
Most hosts and platforms acknowledge a notice and act on it; some ask for more detail; a few never reply. The person who posted the photo may file a counter-notice saying the removal was a mistake. If they do, the host may restore the material after 10 to 14 business days unless the rights holder starts a court action (§ 512(g)). Nobody can promise a removal or a date, and anyone who does is guessing.
Some photographers prefer to ask for a license fee rather than removal, particularly where a business has used a photo commercially. That is a negotiation about money and, if it goes further, a matter for a lawyer. We are a takedown service, not a law firm, and we will say when a situation needs one.
Find every place the photo appears
Search for the photo first, free. Each result says whether it is the identical file, the same file name, or a lookalike to compare.
Search for your photoLast reviewed November 2, 2026. General information about US law, not legal advice. Copy Removal is a takedown service, not a law firm.