What a counter-notice actually is
Under section 512(g), somebody whose content you had removed can send the host a sworn statement saying the removal was a mistake. The host forwards it to you and may then restore the material, ordinarily between ten and fourteen business days later, unless you tell the host you have filed a court action. The host is not deciding who is right — it is following a procedure that protects it from liability either way. Read the counter-notice as a procedural step rather than as a verdict.
First, check that the counter-notice is even valid
- It must identify the specific material and where it appeared before removal.
- It must carry a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the removal was a mistake or a misidentification.
- It must give the sender's name, address and telephone number.
- It must consent to the jurisdiction of a federal district court, and to accepting service from you.
- A counter-notice missing any of these is defective, and the host is entitled to disregard it. Say so, in writing, quoting the element that is missing.
Then work out which of three situations you are in
- You were right and they are chancing it. Most counter-notices in this category are sent to see whether you disappear. Reply to the host, restate your ownership, attach your dated evidence.
- You made a mistake — wrong URL, or material you do not in fact own. Withdraw the notice in writing straight away. A knowingly false notice carries liability under section 512(f), and a promptly corrected one generally does not.
- It is genuinely contested — a licence, a collaboration, a disputed assignment. Take advice before replying. Do not argue the merits in an email to a host that is not deciding them.
What to send back
Reply to the host, not to the counter-notifier. Keep it short and factual: identify the notice by its reference, state that you are the rights holder, name the original publication location and date, and attach the evidence you captured. Do not threaten, do not editorialise, and do not claim you will sue unless you intend to. Everything you write may be forwarded to the other party in full.
The thing most people get wrong
Restoration is not a finding that you were wrong. The host restores because the statute tells it to when no court action is filed, and it would face the same procedure whoever had sent the notice. Treat a restoration as the end of that particular route rather than as a judgement, and consider the other routes: search delisting, the platform's own policy, and where the material is intimate, the non-consensual imagery route, which is not affected by a copyright counter-notice at all.
Keep the record
- Save the counter-notice exactly as it arrived, headers included.
- Save your reply and the date you sent it.
- Note whether the material was restored, and when.
- Keep the counter-notifier's details. A repeat sender across several of your notices is a pattern worth showing.