DMCA takedowns for digital creators
Your course is on a pirate site right now. We'll find it and get it taken down.
Pirate Hound watches the web for pirated copies of your online courses, presets, LUTs and templates, checks each one, and files DMCA takedowns with Google, file hosts and the sites themselves. A person reviews every notice before it goes out.
Free, no obligation. Paid plans have no contract. See an example report
Pirate Hound found this copyBuilt by the team behind 5DayDeal
- 22,000+customers in a single bundle sale
- 530bundle products under watch
- 154partner creators watched
What is Pirate Hound?
Pirate Hound is a piracy monitoring and DMCA takedown service for creators who sell digital products. We search for pirated copies of your courses, presets, LUTs, templates and plugins, verify each one, and file removal requests with search engines, file hosts and website hosts, then report back with every link.
Where the hound searches
- Bing
- DuckDuckGo
- YouTube
- Telegram
- Spotify
- VK
- Torrent sites
- File hosts
- Pirate forums
Brand names belong to their owners. We search these sites; we're not affiliated with them.
How it works
How we track down pirated copies.
The same process we built to protect our own bundles: know the catalog, check before filing, and file where it actually works.
- 01 · SCENT PROFILE
We learn your catalog
Every product you sell gets a scent profile: its name and the names pirates use for it. Your partners, affiliates and reviewers join the Friendly Pack, a list we never touch.
- 02 · HOUND SEARCH
We pick up the scent
We track your products across search results, download sites, file hosts, Telegram channels and the spam posts that advertise pirated courses.
- 03 · POINTER CHECK
A person confirms the catch
Like a pointer dog, we point and a person checks. Each page is opened and verified for your product and a working download before anything is filed.
- 04 · BARK & BITE
Delisted, then removed
The bark: Google and Bing drop the page so buyers stop finding it. The bite: the file host or site host is asked to delete the copy at the source.
The Pack Report. Every month you get a plain report: what we found, what came down, and what we're still working on, with every link.
Why it matters
Buyers search for your course. Pirates show up first.
When someone looks up your product, free download pages often rank right next to your store. We get those pages removed from Google and taken down at the source, so the result buyers find is yours.
The cost of success
The more your course sells, the more it leaks.
Pirates go after what's popular. As a course takes off, more copies get shared, and a bigger slice of would-be buyers download it free instead.
Example only. Drag the slider to try your own numbers. Loss rates follow the 5 to 15% range found in research on ebooks and digital film.
Piracy cost calculator
How much is piracy costing you?
Enter your price and how many you sell in a typical month. We'll estimate the sales you could be losing to pirated copies, using the 5 to 15% range from published research.
Built for creators
Built for courses, presets and other digital products.
We started out protecting creator bundles, so we know where course and preset piracy shows up and what pirate sites call your products.
- Online courses
- Video tutorials
- LUTs
- Photoshop actions
- Templates
- Plugins
- Ebooks & guides
- Sound & music packs
- Overlays & textures
- A person reviews every noticeWe only file when a page clearly offers your product. A mistaken notice can hurt an innocent business and your reputation.
- We never contact pirates or pay themWe only use the official removal processes that search engines and hosts provide.
- Your partners stay safeAffiliates, resellers and reviewers you list are excluded automatically.
How we compare
Doing it yourself, a typical agency, or Pirate Hound.
| Doing it yourself | Typical takedown agency | Pirate Hound | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A person checks every notice | Yes, you | Varies, often automated | Yes, every one |
| Partners and affiliates protected | If you keep a list | Depends on the agency | Friendly Pack list |
| Finds products split out of bundles | Rarely | Rarely | Yes |
| Delisting and removal at the source | Takes research | Usually | Bark & Bite |
| Monthly report with every link | No | Usually | The Pack Report |
| Your time each month | Hours | Minutes | Minutes |
| Cost | Free, plus your time | About $70 to $400+ a month | From $149 a month |
| Contract | None | Sometimes annual | Month to month |
Pricing
Priced by products watched, not notices filed.
Pricing is based on how many products we watch, so we have no reason to file extra notices. Your first piracy report is free.
Starter
- Weekly scans
- Google and Bing delisting
- File-host notices
- Monthly report
Pro Best value
- Everything in Starter
- Daily scans during launches and sales
- Hosting-provider notices
- Re-filing when copies come back
Studio
- Everything in Pro
- Priority review
- Telegram and marketplace reports
- Live dashboard
Questions
Piracy and DMCA takedown FAQ
What is Pirate Hound?
Pirate Hound is a piracy monitoring and DMCA takedown service for people who sell digital products: online courses, Lightroom presets, LUTs, templates, plugins and ebooks. We find pirated copies, check each one, and file removal requests with search engines, file hosts and website hosts.
What is a DMCA takedown?
A DMCA takedown is a formal notice, under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, asking a website, host or search engine to remove or stop linking to material that infringes your copyright. Google, Bing, file hosts and most hosting companies have a process for receiving them.
How do you find pirated copies of my products?
We search Google results, known pirate download sites, file hosts, forums, Telegram channels, and spam posts on platforms like Spotify and Facebook that advertise pirated courses, for every product you list with us.
What happens when a pirate site ignores the notice?
Many do, so we also ask Google and Bing to drop the page from search results and send notices to the file host holding the download and to the company hosting the site. Most buyers find pirated copies through search, so delisting cuts most of the traffic.
How much does piracy cost creators?
Studies of ebooks and digital film find that cutting off pirated copies raises legal sales by roughly 5 to 15 percent; one study of ebooks with takedown monitoring found more than 14 percent (Reimers, Journal of Law and Economics, 2016). No one has measured courses or presets specifically, but the mechanism is the same: fewer free copies in search results means more people buy.
Do you guarantee everything comes down?
No. Some sites are hosted where notices aren't enforced, and copies get re-uploaded. We keep searching and filing through the channels that work, and every report shows what was removed and what is still pending.
Will you send notices to my affiliates or reviewers?
No. Your own sites, affiliates, resellers and reviewers go on an exclusion list before we start, and a person reviews every notice before it's filed.
Do you sue pirates or ask them for money?
No. We don't threaten lawsuits, demand settlements or contact the people running pirate sites. We use the standard removal processes that search engines and hosts provide.
Do I have to sign a long contract?
No. It's month to month and you can cancel any time. To file on your behalf we need a short written authorization that says which products we can act on.
What do I get in the free piracy report?
Send us a link to your store or product list and we'll run a scan. The report lists the pirated copies we found, with links, so you can see the problem before paying anything.
Free piracy check
Is your course being given away?
Type the name of your course and see what a pirate copy of it looks like. Then we'll check the real web for free and send you a report with every copy we find.
Nothing is sent until you fill in the form below.
Get your free piracy report.
Tell us where you sell and we'll scan for pirated copies of your products, then email you a report with every link we find. It's free and there's no obligation.
- Every pirated copy we find, with links
- Which sites and file hosts are involved
- What we'd do about each one
Your report within 2 business days
The hound is on the scent.
- We confirm your requestYou'll get a short email so you know it arrived.
- The hound goes huntingWe search for your product and a person checks every page we find.
- Your report arrivesWithin 2 business days: every pirated copy, with links, and what we'd do.