DMCA Complaint

A DMCA complaint is a formal notice under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act by which a rights holder asks a provider to remove material that infringes copyright. Because many major platforms, hosts, and search engines are based in the United States, it is also the most common tool against pirated copies for performers in Germany.

How the procedure works

The law exempts providers from their own liability if they act promptly after receiving a proper notice. This has resulted in the so-called notice-and-takedown procedure: The rights holder submits a notice, the provider removes the material, and the uploader is informed. The uploader can object with a counter-notification. The content can then go back online if the complainant does not take legal action within a specified period.

What a notice must contain

• the identification of the protected work, meaning the original scene or photoset
• the exact address of the infringing content
• the complainant’s contact details
• a statement that the use is not authorized in good faith
• an affirmation that the information is accurate and that you are authorized to act for the rights holder
• a signature; an electronic signature is sufficient

Most providers offer forms for this purpose. False statements can have legal consequences, so do not include anything you cannot substantiate. It is helpful to include a link to the original, such as the scene in the production’s shop or the post on your own platform, because this makes it easier for the provider to verify the claim and speeds up processing.

Who is actually allowed to submit a notice

The DMCA is a copyright instrument. Anyone who holds the rights to the work or acts on the rights holder’s behalf is authorized. For a scene for which you granted the production the Buyout usage rights, this is generally the production, not you. Your own notice may then be rejected.

The situation is different for your own material: What you produce yourself for your fan platform or as a custom video belongs to you, and you can submit a notice directly for it. For third-party productions, the sensible approach is to inform the production and ask them to submit a notice. Where recordings have been published without any consent, many platforms also offer their own reporting channels for privacy violations, which do not require proof of copyright ownership.

The drawback for anonymous performers

A DMCA complaint requires contact details. Some providers forward the notice to the uploader or publish copies in publicly accessible transparency databases. Anyone working under stage names who wants to protect their legal name should therefore not submit a notice themselves with their full address, but should check whether the production, a law firm, or a specialized service provider can submit the notice instead.

Before submitting

Clarify who owns the rights, preserve the location of the infringement, use the provider’s form, and do not disclose private information that is not necessary. The overall process is described in the Takedown entry. This entry is not a substitute for legal advice, particularly not advice on U.S. law.