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DMCA takedown

A DMCA takedown is a request under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act asking a host or platform to remove content that infringes your copyright, such as a site that copies your text, images, or code.

Updated 2 min read

How it works

You send a DMCA notice to the host, CDN, or platform that names the copyrighted work, the infringing URL, and a good-faith statement. US-based and many international providers honour it and remove the content, often within days. A counter-notice process lets the other side respond.

DMCA covers copyright, not trademarks, so it fits cloned sites that lift your design and assets, but not every impersonation case.

How it relates to brand impersonation

Fake sites usually copy your branding wholesale, which makes copyright a practical lever even when other routes are slow. DMCA is one of several legal bases a takedown can use, alongside trademark and abuse policies.

How nebty helps

nebty picks the most effective basis for each takedown, whether that is DMCA, trademark, or a provider abuse policy, and runs the process on demand. You pay only when the content comes down.

When DMCA is the right tool

DMCA works on copyright, so it fits the cases where a fake site copies something you own: your page text, your images, your logo artwork, or your code. It does not cover trademark misuse by itself, so a domain that merely uses your brand name without copying your material may need a different basis, such as a UDRP filing or the host abuse policy. The practical advantage of DMCA is reach: most large US hosts, CDNs, and platforms have a standing process and act quickly on a well-formed notice. The trade-off is the counter-notice, which lets the other side contest the claim and can restore the content if you do not follow up. Picking the strongest basis for each case, rather than defaulting to DMCA every time, is what gets a clean removal.

A domain takedown is the process of getting a fraudulent or infringing domain deactivated or removed by the parties that control it: the registrar, the hosting provider, or the registry.

Takedown & response

A website takedown is the removal of a fraudulent or infringing website (a fake shop, phishing page, or scam site) by working with its hosting provider, CMS platform, or registrar.

Takedown & response

Takedown-as-a-service is an outsourced model where a specialist provider handles the removal of fraudulent domains, sites, and content for you, instead of you fighting registrars and hosts in-house.

Takedown & response

Brand abuse is the unauthorized use of a brand name, logo, or identity to deceive or profit, spanning impersonation, counterfeiting, fraud, and reputation attacks.

Brand protection & DRP

An abuse report is a formal complaint sent to a registrar, host, or platform that documents how a domain or site breaks their policy or the law, asking them to act on it.

Takedown & response

Brand enforcement is the active side of brand protection: pursuing and removing infringements and impersonations through takedowns, legal notices, and platform reports, rather than only monitoring for them.

Takedown & response

Trademark monitoring is watching for unauthorized use of your registered trademarks, in new trademark filings, domains, marketplaces, and online content, so you can object or enforce early.

Brand protection & DRP
Free report

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Benedikt Scheungraber

Benedikt Scheungraber

Co-Founder & CEO

Questions about brand protection, or want to see nebty in action? I’m happy to walk you through it myself and talk openly about whether we can help with your case.