Frequently asked questions

A DMCA takedown notice under 17 U.S.C. § 512 requires an online service provider to remove or disable access to infringing material promptly if the provider wants to keep its safe harbor from copyright damages. Against US-facing platforms, hosts, and search engines, it is fast and effective: most compliant notices result in removal within days.

What it cannot do: it only reaches copyright infringement. It cannot remove criticism, true statements about you, your name in a news article, or material a court would likely consider fair use. It also does not identify the infringer or award damages — those require a subpoena or a lawsuit. And the person whose material was removed can respond with a counter-notice under § 512(g); if they do, the platform may restore the material in 10 to 14 business days unless a lawsuit is filed. We assess counter-notice risk before sending, not after.

It varies by target. Major platforms and search engines typically act on compliant notices within one to five business days. Smaller hosts range from hours to weeks. Noncompliant offshore sites may never comply — for those, the realistic timeline is the time it takes to de-index them from search and cut off their infrastructure, which is measured in weeks.

For urgent matters — leaked private content, pre-release material — we begin evidence preservation and send the first wave of notices within days of engagement. We will give you a target-by-target expectation at intake rather than a single blended promise.

Usually, yes — because enforcement targets infrastructure, not just the infringer. A site operated from anywhere still typically depends on services with US legal exposure: a CDN, a registrar, payment processors, advertising networks, and visibility in US search results. Notices and demands at those layers remove the material from the audience that matters or make the site unprofitable to run.

Direct litigation against a foreign operator is sometimes possible but often impractical. We are candid about that distinction: the goal we can usually deliver against an offshore infringer is effective removal from your market, not a collectible foreign judgment.

It depends on the scope, and we will tell you before you commit. Takedown campaigns are typically handled on flat fees or capped budgets scoped at intake, so a removal campaign has a known cost. Litigation is generally billed hourly against an estimate we update as the case develops. Ongoing monitoring engagements are flat monthly fees.

Every engagement starts with a written fee agreement stating exactly how fees are calculated. If the likely cost of enforcement is disproportionate to what is at stake, we will say so at the consultation rather than after the first invoice.

Communications with the firm's attorneys made for the purpose of seeking legal advice are protected by attorney-client privilege, whether or not you ultimately retain us. Matters involving leaked or intimate material are handled by attorneys directly, and we structure any filings to minimize public exposure of your identity where courts allow it — including seeking leave to proceed pseudonymously in appropriate cases.

Note one boundary: information you post publicly about your own matter is not privileged, and discussing an active enforcement campaign publicly can complicate it. We will advise you on that at intake.

Often. For copyright matters, § 512(h) of the DMCA allows us to obtain a subpoena from a federal court clerk — without filing a lawsuit — compelling a service provider that stores the infringing material to identify the user who posted it. Where that tool doesn't fit, or the claims include defamation or privacy violations, we file a John Doe action and seek expedited discovery to subpoena platforms, hosts, and payment processors for identifying records.

Courts require a properly supported claim before unmasking an anonymous speaker, so the underlying case has to be genuine — which is one more reason the evidence-preservation stage matters.

No — and yes, depending on the remedy. Copyright exists automatically when you create an original work, and a DMCA takedown does not require registration. But filing a US infringement lawsuit requires a registration (or a refusal from the Copyright Office), and statutory damages plus attorney's fees are generally available only if you registered before the infringement began or within three months of first publication.

Practically: we can start removals immediately, and we will register the works that matter in parallel so the litigation option stays open with its strongest remedies intact.

Yes. The DMCA works in both directions. If your material was removed based on a notice that misrepresents the facts, we can prepare a counter-notice under § 512(g) to have it restored, and § 512(f) provides a damages claim against anyone who knowingly and materially misrepresents that material is infringing. Wrongful takedowns aimed at silencing lawful content are a form of abuse we litigate against, not just around.