Copy Removal
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Draft a DMCA notice for your photograph.

Fill in the form and watch the notice take shape beside it. Every part the statute requires, put together in your browser and sent nowhere.

Have these ready
Your photo
Where you published it, or a short description
The copy
The exact address of the page, post or listing
Your details
Name, address, phone and email. The other side may see them.
First
Weigh fair use with the fair-use check
Who you are

§ 512(c)(3)(A)(iv) requires contact details, and they reach the other side.

Your photograph

§ 512(c)(3)(A)(ii). Where you published it, one per line. If it was never online, describe it: subject, date, place.

The copies

§ 512(c)(3)(A)(iii). The exact page, post or listing for each copy, one per line. A profile address alone is not enough.

Fair use and signature

The good-faith statement has to account for fair use. Lenz v. Universal, 9th Cir. 2015.

Your notice

Not complete yet. Without every required part, a notice does not legally notify anyone. Still needed: the rights holder’s name, a postal address, an email address, where your photo is published, or a description of it, at least one address where the copy appears, a name to sign with.

Assembled in your browser. None of it reaches us or anyone else. A document, not legal advice. Most social platforms and marketplaces want their own form instead of an email; the same facts go into it.

The six parts

What each part is there for.

A notice that substantially leaves them out is not a weak notice. Legally, it is not a notice.

  1. 1

    A signature

    Physical or electronic, from you or from someone authorized to act for you. A typed “/s/” followed by your name is the usual electronic form.
  2. 2

    Your photograph, identified

    Where you published it, or a description if it never went online. Several photos copied onto one site can be listed in one notice.
  3. 3

    The copy, located

    The exact page, post or listing. “Their account” does not let anyone find it, and the recipient is under no duty to search.
  4. 4

    A way to reach you

    Postal address, telephone and email. All three are required, and they usually reach whoever posted the copy, so a business address is a sensible choice.
  5. 5

    Good faith

    That the use is not authorized by you, your agent or the law. Those last three words are where fair use enters.
  6. 6

    Accuracy and authority, sworn

    Under penalty of perjury. It covers the facts in the notice and your right to send it, not the legal conclusion that the use infringes.

Only one sentence is sworn.

The penalty-of-perjury line covers the accuracy of what you wrote and your authority to send it. It does not swear that the use infringes.

Common mistakes

Six ways a careful notice goes nowhere.

Emailing a web host about an Instagram postA website’s host has no control over a social platform. Platforms take reports through their own forms.
Linking the profile instead of the postThe recipient cannot locate the copy and may close the report untouched.
Reporting a photo that only looks like yoursA similar picture is not your picture. This is precisely the statement § 512(f) is concerned with.
Using copyright against a fake profileIf someone is pretending to be you, the impersonation report is usually the right route.
Asking for payment in the noticeIt has no place in a notice and makes it read like a demand letter. Keep any licensing claim separate.
Dropping the sworn sentenceThe notice no longer complies, and nobody is obliged to act on it.

After you send it

What tends to happen next.

  1. 1

    A reply, often automatic

    The law asks hosts to act “expeditiously” and sets no number. Anyone quoting a turnaround is guessing.
  2. 2

    Look for yourself

    Do not rely on the reply. Copies get uploaded again and reports get closed without action. Check after a week, and again after a month.
  3. 3

    A counter-notice can follow

    Under § 512(g) the material may be restored after 10 to 14 business days unless you file suit. At that point, a lawyer is the right person to ask.
  4. 4

    If nothing happens

    Send a follow-up that quotes the first notice. If a search result outlives the page, make a separate request to Google.

Questions

About this tool.

Will this notice get the photo removed?

It contains every element § 512(c)(3)(A) requires. Whether anything comes down depends on the facts being true, the notice reaching the right recipient, and what that recipient decides. We are not a law firm, and none of this is legal advice.

Can you see what I type?

No. The notice is assembled in your browser. Nothing is submitted, stored or logged, and you do not need an account.

Where do I send it?

For a website, to the host’s designated agent as listed in the Copyright Office directory; our host lookup is a place to start. For Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, X, TikTok and most marketplaces, paste the same facts into the platform’s own copyright form.

The photo was never online. Can I still report a copy?

Yes. Describe the photograph instead of linking to it: what it shows, and when and where you took it. Keep the original file with its metadata in case anyone asks.

Can I send one on someone else’s behalf?

Only with their authority. Choose “Authorized to act for the owner” and you appear as the agent. Signing as the owner when you are not is exactly what the law penalizes.

Should I message the person who posted it first?

A polite message is sometimes all it takes. It can also lead them to move the photo or block you. If the copy costs you business, the host or platform tends to be the steadier first step.

Free, and no account

See where your photo has been posted.

Paste the address of your photo and the search opens on the homepage, where you can also upload the file. Free, and no account.

Upload the file on the homepage

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 6 MB

Go to the search

Already know where the copies are? Open a matter.