Copyright Infringement Letter

Send a copyright infringement letter as soon as you discover unauthorized use of your original creative work. That includes reposting your photograph on social media, scraping your blog article to a competing website, embedding your video without permission, cloning your software code, remixing your music, selling merchandise featuring your artwork, or training a commercial model on your dataset without a license. In each of these cases, U.S. copyright law gives you the same core remedy: written notice, followed by a takedown, followed by suit in federal court.

The letter accomplishes three things at once. First, it establishes a documented date of notice, which turns any future infringement into willful infringement under 17 U.S.C. §504(c)(2), tripling your damages ceiling. Second, it forces the infringer to preserve evidence they might otherwise destroy. Third, it typically produces removal without litigation, because most infringers know they lack a defense and would rather comply than face a federal case.

Speed matters. Send the letter as soon as you have the URLs and screenshots, ideally within days of discovery. Every additional download or repost widens your damages, but also strengthens a laches or estoppel defense the infringer may raise if you wait months or years.

Every copyright infringement letter we generate follows the checklist below, which mirrors what a plaintiff would attach as Exhibit A to a federal complaint:

• Proof you own the copyright: creation dates, publication history, source files, and, when available, a U.S. Copyright Office registration certificate
• A precise description of the infringed work (title, medium, first-publication date) with a link or reference to the original
• Identification of the infringing use: full URLs, screenshots, dates of access, and preserved copies of the infringing content
• A clear demand: remove the content, publish a corrective disclosure, pay a licensing fee, or all three
• A 48 to 72 hour deadline, which matches DMCA and platform takedown expectations
• Reservation of statutory damages up to $150,000 per work and attorney's fees under 17 U.S.C. §505 (registered works)
• Warning that a DMCA §512 takedown will follow, listing the host or platform to be notified
• Preservation-of-evidence language covering server logs, analytics, revenue records, and any downstream licensees
• A safe-harbor licensing offer where a commercial license would be economically rational for both sides

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. §512) is the fastest way to remove infringing content from any U.S. hosted platform. It works because §512 gives web hosts, video platforms, marketplaces, and social networks a safe harbor from copyright liability only if they promptly remove infringing content upon receiving a properly formatted notice.

Every major platform (YouTube, Meta, TikTok, X, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Shopify, Cloudflare, Amazon Web Services) has a dedicated DMCA agent and typically removes content within 24 to 72 hours of a valid notice. Our package includes a DMCA-formatted takedown notice alongside your C&D letter so you can send both simultaneously. If the infringer files a counter-notice, the platform will restore the content in 10 to 14 business days unless you file suit, which is why the C&D letter and the takedown are complementary rather than alternatives.

Bad-faith takedowns are actionable under §512(f). Our templates require you to attest to good faith and only assert claims backed by evidence you have preserved.

U.S. copyright plaintiffs choose between two damage measures at any time before final judgment:

• Actual damages plus infringer's profits (17 U.S.C. §504(b)), calculated as your lost licensing revenue plus any revenue the infringer earned from the infringement, without double counting.
• Statutory damages (17 U.S.C. §504(c)), ranging from $750 to $30,000 per work at the court's discretion, capped at $150,000 per work for willful infringement and floored at $200 for innocent infringement.

Only works registered before the infringement began (or within three months of first publication for published works) are eligible for statutory damages and attorney's fees. This is why we tell every rights holder: register your key works with the U.S. Copyright Office at copyright.gov even if you never plan to sue. Registration costs $45 to $65 per work and multiplies your leverage by orders of magnitude.

Use our copyright damages calculator to estimate your recovery range before you draft.

Fair use (17 U.S.C. §107) is an affirmative defense, not a right. Courts weigh four factors: the purpose and character of the use (commercial vs. transformative), the nature of the original work, the amount used, and the effect on the market. Straight-up commercial reposting of your entire work almost never qualifies. Criticism, parody, teaching, news reporting, and genuinely transformative art may qualify.

Other defenses to expect:

• Independent creation, the infringer claims they never saw your work
• Implied license, based on your public posting or terms of use
• License from a third party who claimed to own the work
• Innocent infringement, which only reduces statutory damages, does not eliminate them
• Statute of limitations, three years under 17 U.S.C. §507(b) from the last act of infringement

A well-drafted letter anticipates each of these and asks for preservation of the documents that would prove or disprove them.

Use USPS Certified Mail with Return Receipt Requested for the C&D letter and email the DMCA notice directly to the platform's designated agent. Every platform lists its DMCA agent contact on the U.S. Copyright Office directory. Keep copies of every screenshot, receipt, and confirmation. Log every response in our violation tracker with evidence uploads (PDFs, photos, audio, video) so everything is in one place if you escalate.

Copyright cases are exclusively federal (28 U.S.C. §1338). If the infringer ignores your letter and the takedown, or refuses a reasonable license, file suit in the U.S. district court where the infringement occurred. Registered works recover attorney's fees, which is why most federal copyright cases settle within 90 days of the complaint. Contingency-fee copyright litigators are widely available; a first consultation is typically free.

For small-dollar infringement (under $30,000), the U.S. Copyright Claims Board (CCB) offers a lower-cost tribunal that decides cases without traditional discovery or trial. Filing fee is $100, and awards up to $30,000 are available for registered works.

• Copyright damages calculator: estimate actual, statutory, and willful ranges before drafting.
• Cease and desist letter overview: general demand-letter mechanics.
• Violation tracker: log incidents with evidence uploads.
• Cost breakdown: how our $99 copyright package compares to attorney rates.
• How it works: our end-to-end intake, review, and delivery flow.

Start the intake, attach your evidence, and download a court-ready letter plus a DMCA-compliant takedown notice in minutes. Start your copyright letter →