How much time after getting DMCA notice? I have a small social media website, and was thinking, if someone uploads a copyright video, like a song, or even full movie, and then original copyright owners contact me to get it removed, then how much time do I have before any legal action is initiated against the website or me? I'd like to give the original uploader a chance to remove the content themselves, before I delete it or suspend the account. I'd like to give them a week may be, or less. Plus, I also need to verify if complaint maker is actual copyright owner, and uploader is not. Normally this is a given thing, but sometimes reverse of this happens. Someone complaints about an original copyright owner, just out of spite. So I will need to verify before acting on the complaint. More importantly, how do I make sure that no legal action is taken against the website or me, since I am not the one who uploaded it. Its just a social media, free for all website... Anybody has any experience with this?
No direct experience here. First verify that the infraction complaint is valid. If it is, contact the infractor to verify that the infraction is real. If it is, advise him that he must immediately remove the content. Otherwise, obtain proof from him that the content is not an infraction and give copies to the complainer. If that does not settle the issue, you will probably need legal help. Be aware that the complainer may himself had poached the content from the poster and now is trying to claim rights to the content. I had that happen once and the wayback machine saved my ass.
@mmerlinn Thanks, I will keep all your mentioned points in mind. Yes, I understand that issue. The complainer might himself have stolen the content, and is now trying to get the original one removed. All this verification will take some time. This is why I want to find out how much time is allowed before some legal action is taken against the website or website staff. Thanks
Technically, they can't sue you for having images or trademarked names posted by someone else on your social media site, they will have to go after the poster. Your site is just a medium and there are laws protecting those types of sites. Otherwise, facebook, twitter, etc. would be sued non-stop. What will happen is they'll email you asking to remove the copyrighted content. You'll then verify that, indeed, the claim comes from a legit company / individual, then you inform the OP that there's a copyright claim and remove the content in question.
You've heard of Kim Dotcom, right? He's hiding out in NZ avoiding extradition to the USA but essentially locked down since before the world knew about lockdowns. He's incredibly bright, incredibly wealthy, and yet he can't make the legal woes go away. But his site was a pay per download, not social. Essentially he was inciting people to break intellectual property laws. You, hopefully, are not doing that.
qwikad.com Thanks for the information! Exactly what I was also thinking. I am just a social medium, fully compliant with copyright laws, and intend to respect other people's copyrighted content. @sarahk No, I don't know about kimdotcom. What is it? Ok, I found. He was a fraud hacker. Nothing like that on my site. Thanks for the caution though!
I worked on copy right topic (internally) and things are very from country to county, like Europe is having very strong policy on this and we have to follow otherwise there will be huge charges that we need to pay. So according to me, its depends on which kind of content that we have in side (and also need to consider county law as well). This is a very big topic and need to understand countries policies as well.
@uday_yadav2 Thanks. I fully intend to respect the copyright laws, just hoping that I would have 7-10 days before some legal action is initiated.
After receiving a DMCA notice, the time you have to respond depends on the platform or service involved and the specifics of the notice. Generally: Websites/Hosting Providers: Under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), service providers must act "expeditiously" to remove or disable access to infringing material once notified. There's no fixed timeline, but this typically means within 24-48 hours. If you're the alleged infringer, you may need to act quickly to avoid content removal or account suspension. Counter-Notice: If you believe the DMCA notice was issued in error, you can file a counter-notice. The DMCA allows 10-14 business days for the copyright holder to respond with legal action before the service provider may restore the content. Platform-Specific Policies: Platforms like YouTube, X, or others have their own policies. For example: YouTube: Content is usually removed within hours of a valid DMCA notice. You have 7 days to respond to a copyright strike before it impacts your account further. X: Similar to YouTube, X may remove content quickly and notify you, giving you a short window (often 7-10 days) to address the issue or file a counter-notice.