Guide

DMCA takedown notices: what to include, a template, and where to send one

Updated October 14, 2026 · 8 minute read

A DMCA takedown notice is a written request, under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, asking a host, platform or search engine to remove or stop linking to material that infringes your copyright. To be valid it needs six things: your signature, the work, the infringing material and where it is, your contact details, a good faith statement and a statement under penalty of perjury that you are authorized to act. Below is a plain template for a pirated video course and a list of where to send it.

What a DMCA notice does

The DMCA gives hosting companies, platforms and search engines a "safe harbor": they are not liable for what their users upload, as long as they remove infringing material promptly when they get a valid notice. That is why most of them run a copyright form or a dedicated email address. You send the notice, they remove the material or the link, and they tell the uploader.

A notice is not a lawsuit. You do not need a lawyer to send one, and you do not need to have registered your copyright first. Registration matters later, if you ever want to sue.

The six required elements

Section 512(c)(3) of the US Copyright Act lists what a notice must contain. In plain language:

A signature, physical or electronic, of the owner or someone authorized to act for them. A typed "/s/ Your Name" is fine.
Identification of the copyrighted work. If several of your works are on one site, a representative list is allowed.
Identification of the infringing material and enough information to find it. In practice: exact URLs.
Your contact information: address, phone number and, if you have one, email.
A good faith statement that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law.
An accuracy statement that the information is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act for the owner.

For search engines, the "material" is the link itself, so you list the URLs of the pages you want removed from results. Google, Bing, YouTube and Cloudflare all use web forms that ask for these elements one field at a time.

A takedown notice template for a pirated video course

Use this for hosting companies and file hosts that accept notices by email. Replace everything in square brackets. Keep the wording of points 4 and 5 as written, since it tracks the statute.

Subject: DMCA takedown notice: [COURSE NAME]
To the designated copyright agent of [HOST OR PLATFORM NAME],
I am writing to report material on your service that infringes a copyright I own [or: that I am authorized to act for].
1. The copyrighted work: [COURSE NAME], a video course of [NUMBER] lessons created by [CREATOR OR COMPANY NAME] and sold at [URL OF YOUR SALES PAGE].
2. The infringing material: Unauthorized copies of the course videos and files are available at these locations:
[INFRINGING URL 1]
[INFRINGING URL 2]
[INFRINGING URL 3]
3. My contact information: [FULL NAME], [COMPANY], [MAILING ADDRESS], [PHONE], [EMAIL].
4. I have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
5. The information in this notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, I am the owner, or authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
Please remove or disable access to the material listed above.
Signed: /s/ [FULL NAME]
[TITLE, IF ACTING FOR A COMPANY]
[DATE]

If someone else sends notices for you, such as a business partner or a takedown service, they sign as your authorized agent and name you as the copyright owner. Get that authorization in writing first.

Where to send it

Where the copy is	Where the notice goes
Google search results	Google's copyright removal form, via Report content for legal reasons
Bing search results	Microsoft's Report to Bing form
File hosts (Mega, Rapidgator and others)	The host's DMCA or abuse page, usually linked in its footer. Mega uses mega.io/copyright. Give the exact file link.
A website's own host	The host's abuse or DMCA address. Find the host from the site's IP address, and check the Copyright Office agent directory for US providers.
A site behind Cloudflare	Cloudflare's abuse form. It forwards the complaint to the real host and gives you the host's contact details.
Telegram public channels	Email dmca@telegram.org with links to the specific messages. Telegram does not act on private chats.
YouTube	The copyright removal request in YouTube Studio, under Content detection

For most pirate pages, send more than one: delist the page from Google and Bing, and notify the file host holding the download. Our guide to removing a pirated course from Google walks through the search engine side step by step.

Do not send notices to the people running pirate sites. They rarely comply, and it gives them your details and a reason to move the file.

Counter-notices: what happens if someone disputes it

If the uploader believes the material was removed by mistake, they can send the host a counter-notice. It must include their signature, the material and where it was, a statement under penalty of perjury that it was removed by mistake or misidentification, and their name, address and phone number with consent to a US federal court.

The host then forwards it to you. Under section 512(g), it must restore the material no less than 10 and no more than 14 business days after receiving the counter-notice, unless you tell it you have filed a court action. If you get a counter-notice, talk to a lawyer before doing anything else, and do not simply resend the same notice.

In practice, pirate sites rarely counter-notify, because it means giving a real identity and accepting a US court.

Mistakes to avoid

Filing against the wrong page. Reviews, news stories, affiliate pages and your own resellers can all mention your course by name. Open and check every URL. Under section 512(f), anyone who knowingly misrepresents that material infringes can be liable for damages, costs and attorney's fees.
Listing home pages instead of exact URLs. Hosts and search engines act on specific addresses.
Using your home address. Notices sent through Google are published in the Lumen database, and other services forward your details to the uploader. Use business contact details.
Threats and demands. Do not threaten a lawsuit or ask a pirate site for money. Stick to the removal processes services provide.
Downloading pirated files. You do not need to, and they often contain malware. Screenshots and the page URL are enough.
Sending once and stopping. Pirated courses get reposted. Check again a week later and file the new URLs.

This guide explains the process; it is not legal advice. If you are unsure whether something is infringing, ask a lawyer.

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Questions

Do I need to register my copyright to send a DMCA notice?

No. Copyright exists from the moment you create the course, and you can send a takedown notice without registering. US registration is needed before you can sue for infringement.

Does the DMCA work on websites outside the US?

Partly. The DMCA is US law, so foreign hosts follow it voluntarily if at all, and some offshore hosts ignore notices. Search engines, major file hosts and platforms such as Telegram and YouTube accept copyright notices regardless of where the pirate site is.

Can someone send DMCA notices on my behalf?

Yes. The law allows a person authorized to act for the owner to send notices. Give that person or service written authorization that says which works they can act on.

How long does a host have to respond?

The law says a host must act expeditiously but sets no fixed number of days. Mainstream hosts often act within days; some offshore hosts never respond.

What is the difference between a takedown and delisting?

A takedown asks the host or file host to remove the material itself. Delisting asks a search engine to drop the page from its results. For pirated courses it usually makes sense to do both.

What if I sent a notice by mistake?

Contact the service and withdraw it as soon as you notice. Mistakes made in good faith are different from knowing misrepresentation, but correcting them quickly is the right thing to do.