Digital takedowns

Platforms act on rights, not on complaints

When your content is being used without authorisation, the instinct is to report it. Reports written as complaints get closed. Notices written as rights claims get processed, because the platform is deciding a legal question with limited information and needs to be told which right, held by whom, over what.

What a notice that works contains

• Identification of the work or the mark, with the registration where one exists.
• Identification of the specific post, listing, video or account, item by item rather than account-wide.
• The basis on which the use is unauthorised, stated narrowly.
• Dated evidence captured before the content disappears.
• A statement signed by someone entitled to act for the rightsholder.

Overreaching is the common failure. A notice that claims more than the right covers gets rejected in full and hands the other side a counter-notice.

After the takedown

Content comes back. Accounts reappear under a new handle, listings are relisted by the same seller under a different name. A takedown is a tool, not an outcome, and for persistent infringers the answer is a record of repeat conduct and then a formal action, not a tenth notice.

What we do

• Capture and preserve evidence with dates that survive deletion.
• File and escalate notices on social platforms, marketplaces, app stores and hosting providers.
• Handle counter-notices.
• Move to infringement or unfair competition proceedings where the conduct is organised.
• Tell you when the content is not actually infringing, which happens more often than people expect.