Guide for Rights Holders

You can send a notice through our form or directly to our designated agent. Both are equally valid, and both are handled on the same schedule.

• The notice form. It needs a FlareNetwork account. It asks for each required item, and lets you follow the notice, message the creator, and withdraw the notice yourself.
• Email or mail to our designated agent. No account is needed. Include the six items below.

The law (17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3)) lists six items:

1. Your signature. A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or of someone authorized to act for the owner. On the form, typing your full name is your signature.
2. The copyrighted work. Say which work you believe was copied.
3. The video. Give its FlareNetwork URL, so we can find it.
4. How to reach you. Your name, mailing address, phone number, and email address.
5. A good-faith statement. That you have a good faith belief that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
6. An accuracy statement. That the information in the notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the owner or are authorized to act for the owner.

These are helpful but optional: timestamps showing where your work appears, a link to the original, a copyright registration number, and a short explanation of why the use is not fair use.

• Consider fair use. Commentary, criticism, parody, and teaching can be lawful uses of your work. Think about whether that applies before you sign.
• The creator sees your notice. They receive a copy, including your name and email address. Your mailing address and phone number are not shared with them.
• A notice is a sworn statement. If you knowingly misrepresent that a video infringes, you may be liable for damages, including costs and attorney's fees (17 U.S.C. § 512(f)).

We check that the notice is complete, normally within one business day. We do not decide whether the claim is right.

• If it is complete, we disable access to the video and tell the creator. You get a confirmation.
• If something is missing, we tell you exactly what. You have 10 business days to send it. The video stays up until the notice is complete.

The creator can answer with a counter-notice, a sworn statement that the takedown was a mistake. We send you a full copy, including the creator's name, address, and phone number.

The video is then restored 10 to 14 business days after we received the counter-notice. The exact date and time are in the message we send you and on the claim page.

To keep the video down, you have to go to court. The video is not restored if, before that time, our designated agent receives notice that you have filed an action seeking a court order against the creator over the video. A claim before the U.S. Copyright Claims Board also counts.

• The action has to have been filed. A plan to file is not enough.
• Tell us the court, the case number, and send a copy of what you filed.
• Use Report a court action on the claim page, or write to our designated agent.

FlareNetwork does not decide between your notice and the counter-notice. After a video has been restored this way, a second notice from you about the same video is not acted on unless it comes with notice of a court action.

You can withdraw a notice at any time: select Withdraw notice on the claim page, or write to our designated agent. If the video was taken down, it is restored at once.

Notices you send through the form are listed on the DMCA claims page in Creator Studio. If you sent your notice by email or mail, we write to you at the address you gave.