What do you do when someone copies your original content, be it an image, audio or video?
You file a DMCA complaint. Google takes these complaints very seriously and follows it up with strict actions. I have talked about the DMCA earlier, the details of which you can read in these articles:
- How to remove copied content from Google search
- DMCA contact page of popular services to submit a takedown request
- What to do when people copy your blog content
Google has a DMCA transparency page where you can see the number of DMCA requests Google has processed. You can also enter your domain name to see how many DMCA takedown requests have been made against your domain and everything else related to it.
Even though Google tries its best to not make mistakes, there can be errors as the DMCA requests are processed by humans. In the video below, let us learn how Google processes the DMCA requests:
This is what happened to me this morning when I received an email from Google search saying:
“Notice of DMCA removal from Google Search”
That is when I investigated the issue further and discovered that there was some error for which I need to file a counter-notice.
Here is a screenshot of an actual email that I received:
None of us want to receive such emails, but if you have received one and you are not at fault, you can always submit a DMCA counter-notice to fix the issue. Also, do not take this lightly. It has been reported that DMCA can affect your search ranking:
Since we re-booted our copyright removals over two years ago, we’ve been given much more data by copyright owners about infringing content online. In fact, we’re now receiving and processing more copyright removal notices every day than we did in all of 2009—more than 4.3 million URLs in the last 30 days alone. We will now be using this data as a signal in our search rankings.
Note: Copying content, deleting it after receiving the notice, and then filing a counter-notice can have severe legal implications. Therefore, counter it only when you are not at a fault and know for sure that the DMCA notice is a mistake.
How To File A DMCA Counter-Notice To Google
If you have received an email like I did, the best place is to click on the link in the email to file the DMCA counter-notice. You can also use this direct link from Google’s help page to file the counter-notice.
For this tutorial, I assume you have received the email and click on the link under “What you can do next” section. (See screenshot below)
This will take you to the “DMCA counter-notification form” where you can fill up all the fields. This is an easy part and you should be able to fill it up easily. The only part that would require most of your attention is “Please provide more details to justify your request“.
Depending upon the severity of your issue, you can add as many details as possible to help the reviewer assess the issue and take appropriate action.
Conclusion
If you ever find yourself in such a situation, the first thing to do is not panic. Evaluate the possibilities of errors on your part (including your team). If that’s not the case, grab a cup of coffee and follow the above steps to file the counter-notice.
There is a good guide on Moz blog that you can also refer to for more examples of filing the form.
Do write back and let us know if you have been slapped with a DMCA notice and how you tackled it. Look forward to seeing your comments below.
Also, here are a few hand-picked guides that must read next:
- 10 Free And Useful Google Tools No Blogger Should Ignore
- This WordPress Plugin Scan Your Content & Suggest Practical SEO Improvement Tips
- How To Allow Image Uploads In Default WordPress Comments
If someone with used other copyrighted content in his Android App and that app is uploaded on Google playstore. Will DMCA take action against that App uploader ?
If someone sends a DMCA take-down notice to a search engine, the search engines will remove the allegedly infringing content from its serps.
unfortunately days people send bogus DMCA complaints regularly.
Sohail Roshni
Hello sir, your information is very useful to me. Your articles writing is very simple to understand every information. Your post and blogs are helpful for my business. but sir, I am a makeup artist and on my websites, many photos are present. how I can secure ??? Please suggest me. Thank you so much
Thanks Harsh for sharing this. One of the blog I managed complained of copyright infringement of its contents. I know just how to report such blog.
Hey harsh I have same question as bhupender ask (how wo know?) Please give your suggestion for this.
And cheers for your valuable post.
Thanks Harsh For This Valuable Post, It happened With Me 1 Years Ago, Now I will Not Be irritate For It.
I really dislike this DCMA thing, received a few false positive and they never took any action when I counter notify them.
Hey Harsh,
This post can help a lot in my nearby future and I have one question that if I write post on my blog and someone copies it and I want to know whether it is a copyright of mine or not because I had heard we had to pay some for it.
Thanks For Valuable Post
Hi Bhupender,
It’s a good question that how you know if someone copies your content.
WordPress provides a smooth facility for your website, if someone copies your complete work then they also copy your internal links. So, whenever someone copies your link into their blog post, WordPress ping you back that someone adds your link in their post and provides you the link of that post.
This notification can be seen in the comment section of the WordPress or you can use WordPress app for your smartphone.
Another method to check duplicate content is to check your post URL in CopyScape. Copyscape shows you the exact match of your content with URL.
I hope this will help you!
Thank you!
Hi Harsh
Mainly as a blogger I take free stock images from flicker and other free sources. I also give citation and backlink to them, even if they do not legally demand it.
What if my website starts getting traffic and will at that time is there are chances of getting copyright notice.
Thanks for giving information about DMCA and Lumen, I never known to these terms before
Thanks
Vipin