Copyright removal is certainly not easy. The level of difficulty you have with the removal of content will depend on several factors, and it greatly depends on what site from which you are trying to remove the content.
When you own the rights to use something, you own the “copyright” to it. Copyright allows you to control who uses the content and how. There are some exceptions for using copyrighted work, but generally, the owner makes those decisions.
Copyright protection can include these types of content and more:
- Movies
- Videos
- Sound recordings
- Music
- Articles
- Books
- Paintings
- Posters
- Advertisements
- Computer software
- Plays and musicals
If you have something you created, say an eBook you wrote or an article, you automatically have ownership of the copyright protections for those works. If you take a picture, you own the copyright, and if you write a song, you own that copyright as well.
When someone tries to steal your copyrighted content online or tries to use a portion of it while not siting you as the owner, you can get their version of the content removed from the website on which it was posted. The stealing of copyrighted work is called copyright infringement.
For websites like Google, you can submit a copyright infringement notification, which includes vital information concerning copyright infringement, your personal contact information, and signature verifying the accuracy of the submission itself. To read more about the copyright infringement notification requirements, click here. On the page, scroll to the bottom to find a list of the requirements for completing a copyright infringement notification.
Before completing an infringement notification, you should be aware that some situations are an exception to the copyright protection and qualify as something called Fair Use.
Fair Use allows people other than the owner of a copyright protection to use the copyrighted content freely. However, there are some limitations as to how they use that content. If a case of copyright infringement goes to a US court, the judge will decide as to whether or not the use of the content did count as Fair Use.
There are four factors of Fair Use according to the Legal Help Google Support page:
- The purpose of using the content – was is for commercial use or nonprofit educational purposes, etc.?
- Nature of the copyrighted work
- Substantiality of the portion of the content used – small amounts are more likely to qualify for Fair Use
- The effect of the use
Any of these factors can contribute to a Fair Use ruling, and some cases go through even without them. Every situation is different when determining Fair Use.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act
There are a few legal things that can get in the way of removing copyright content, one of which is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA).
This section of the CDA grants protection to website hosts. The people who run Google and other websites cannot get into any type of legal trouble for what their users post. Even if a user were to post infringing material and goes through the very serious consequences of copyright infringement, the website host is not going to feel a backlash of any of it unless it affects their general reputation. They cannot be accused of “allowing” certain content to be posted. To know more on this you can read this online reputation management guide.
Although Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides protection, the website host still must follow any legal necessity for the removal of content. For example, if a judge issues a court order for removal, the website must comply.
Fair Use
The Fair Use doctrine permits the lawful use of copyrighted material. If a portion of content counts as Fair Use, someone can use it without permission from the copyright owner. They can use the content for creative reasons, news reporting, commentary, teaching, or research as long as they do not try to say that the content was originally their creation when it was not.
Fair Use promotes the freedom of expression, and it allows people more room for creativity online. However, the idea of Fair Use can make it hard to get content removed, even if it is clearly infringing on your copyright ownership. Most cases end up going under the determination of a court judge.
How to use DMCA to Remove Copyright Content from a Website
A DMCA notice is a type of warning that you can send directly to the owners of a website. The notice includes all the necessary information for them to locate the post on their site that has copyright-infringing content.
Most of the time, websites immediately comply with a DMCA notice. The websites that act as a third-party host to content should have a Designated Agent to handle DMCA notices since they are the most likely to receive them compared to other sites.
When you create a DMCA notice (hopefully not by yourself), you will need to include the following:
- Physical or electronic signature – your signature or signature of an authorized person
- Identifying details of the original content
- Identifying details of the infringing content
- Contact information for the copyright owner
- Good faith belief statement that the copyright owner did not grant access to use of the content
- Statement saying that the information given in the DMCA notice is accurate, under penalty of perjury
How to Remove Copyright Content from Google
Google responds to copyright infringement claims that people send to them. Their process and forms are consistent with DMCA notices, and they process everything right in their Google team. To learn more about legal removal requests on Google – click here.
Once you submit a request to Google, they will review the material and consider making changes to the post by either removing, blocking, or restricting access to it.
Google is one of the best sites for cooperative removal of content. Not all sites respond to removal requests. Follow the steps provided in Google’s Legal Help pages and stick with it until you get a response. You can also hire a lawyer or an online reputation management company to help.
William Jones is an Online marketing specialist and consultant with more than 15 years of experience in marketing. His expertise in marketing includes website design, email marketing, SEO, blogging, PPC, social media marketing, and reputation management for businesses.