There are two potential parties that could receive DMCA Takedown Notices with regards to the internet:
ISP/OSP operators. The DMCA and "Safe Harbor" portion of the Copyright Act were specifically written for ISP's, OSP's and Web Hosting companies. And as such any DMCA Takedown Notice must be sent to a the appropriate "abuse@" or "DMCA@" contact for the ISP's, OSP's and Web Hosting company operator.
Infringing party generally the website owner / contact or person responsible for the internet account used commit the copyright violation . The website owner / contact would be the person listed as the main contact for the domain which is being accused of hosting copyrighted / "stolen" content.
If you are not either of these two then return the takedown or forward to the appropriate contact.
If you are the appropriate contact for either examples above:
A. be sure and look to identify the specific copyright infringement(s)
B. Once confirmed
C. then proceed with the instructions listed within the takedown notice.
Three key points to highlight regarding takedown requests:
Applying to high a level of interpretation on the request puts the ISP/OSP in direct conflict with their position and the Act which governs the takedown process. The person who requests a takedown formally swears it, that is their legally binding declaration of ownership. If they do not own the content they are guilty of perjury and can prosecuted for it. ISP's / OSP's / Web Hosts do not have the right or responsibility to arbitrate the takedown process between parties or determine whether the takedown is valid or not. They most certainly can bring judgement as to whether the Takedown request or application is suitable, appropriate or meets the criteria set out on their website.
Although the takedown request has an immediacy which can be misused ultimately (according to the Act) the onus is on the party requesting the takedown to proceed to the next level legally by making application in a court of law. If the content is not theirs and the takedown is frivolous the maximum length of time a site could be down would be 14 days.
A counter claim cannot be used as defense of a Takedown. In other words you cannot use a counter claim to keep content / website up. The content or website must be taken down before the counter claim can be launched.
DMCA.com provides takedown and counter claim assistance. Our DMCA.com Compliant program also provides excellent support for any organization that receives more than 5 takedowns per month.
If you have any further questions about these features, please submit a question and we will be happy to answer.