In the digital world we live in, your brand is no longer just a logo. Your brand is your company’s reputation, intellectual property, and frequently, the primary link to customers. Unfortunately, copyright abuse online is rampant: pirated software, copied imagery, cloned applications or even sites wholly taking your content.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was created to combat that. At PhishFort, we’ve learned the hard way why copyright abuse is damaging to trust and revenue. A DMCA takedown notice isn’t a legal formality; it’s a powerful mechanism to protect your organization’s brand assets online.
This guide will walk you through what a DMCA takedown process consists of, why it’s important to organizations, and how to begin the process.
Trademark vs. Copyright: A Word of Caution
One of the prevalent myths is that DMCA applies to all brand abuse. It does not.
Trademarks apply to your brand (brand/personal name, logos/slogans). Trademarks protect the public’s right to recognition of your product as your product.
Copyright applies to original works of authorship (imagery, video, composition, documents, code, applications, etc).
Why Should You Care? If a scammer is using your company logo, without authorization, that’s trademark issue and not a DMCA issue. If they copied all the text on your website or installed your software on illegal distributed software, that would be a copyright issue making DMCA applicable.
Understanding the difference will save you time and will expedite coming to the right issue.
What is the DMCA (whose record was set in 1998) and why would your organization care?
The DMCA was created to protect creators and companies delivering digital content. It offers a clear process for reporting copyright violations to platforms, hosting providers, and service operators.
For businesses, that matters because:
- Protection of revenue: Pirated software or cloned apps are a direct loss of revenue.
- Protection of reputation: Stolen content diminishes trust and credibility with customers.
- Protection of property: DMCA gives your notice legal framework for your claim to be recognized and pursued internationally (not just in the U.S.).
In short: sending a DMCA takedown notice is typically the quickest way to put an end to digital theft at its source.
What is a DMCA takedown notice?
Think of it as your formal request to the service or platform: “Hey, this content is infringement on our rights, please take it down.”
Valid DMCA takedown requests includes:
- Identification of the copyright material.
- Exact URL or location of infringement.
- Statement of good faith that it’s unauthorized use.
- An oath (subject to penalty of perjury) that the statements in the DMCA are true.
- Your contact information (name, address, phone, email).
- Signature (physical or electronic).
Here’s the kicker: platforms like YouTube, Github, app stores, and social media can legally be compelled to take action when properly structured DMCA notice is submitted. Without it, you may have to wait longer, or no action may be taken against your report.
What can I report as copyright infringement?
Common infringement situations organizations see are:
- Theft of creative assets: Images, videos, or ads owned by an organization getting used without permission.
- Cloned software/apps: Counterfeit versions being offered through app stores or websites. Source Code or Documents Leak: Sensitive IP is posted on GitHub or other file sharing sites.
- Phishing Sites: Fake domains that duplicate your design and fake your content.
These aren’t simply annoying concerns – they are threats to your revenue, brand value, and customer safety.
How PhishFort Approaches DMCA
Technically, anyone can submit a DMCA takedown request, which should happen, but it isn’t intuitive. Generally, poorly written notices are ignored. If the proof isn’t right, it takes forever. This is when PhishFort comes in.
Below is our DMCA takedown lifecycle process:
- Reporting: You give us the original work and infringing link.
- Case Building: Our operations team builds the case and concludes inferences to support it, and builds a professional presentation.
- Filing: We file the notice to the platform (email or online).
- Tracking: We keep monitoring and tracking and press for enforcement, while you are kept in the loop.
Why this matters: With all our years, thousands of DMCA takedown success stories, we see the ROI is faster. For the organization, it is quicker to get the infringing content taken down, and minimum risk of exposure.
The Road to Getting Started with Protecting your Brand
If your organization believes they are a victim of copyright infringement, the road map looks roughly like this:
- Record everything: Record and save your original work and the infringing edition of your original work!
- Act fast: The longer the infringing edition stays up, the more damage it does.
- Work with the professionals: With PhishFort, we help ensure your notices meet the technical and legal requirements and aren’t taken lightly by the platform.
Keep in mind that copyright infringement is not just an inconvenience – it is an attestation risk and liability! Getting protected via a DMCA is an easy first step and critical part of security management for virtually any online brand.
Getting Started
In an increasingly digital abuse environment, DMCA’s represent one of the best value propositions for organizations to protect and secure their IP. DMCA takedowns also bring not only the removal of pirated content, communication to your customers, revenue parity, and brand value restoration.
PhishFort simplifies and straightforwardly manages to let you concentrate on growing your enterprise and we manage the enforcement for you!
Curious about the worth of protecting your brand? Get in touch with us to utilize your first DMCA!
