Why the elements matter more than the wording
Section 512(c)(3) lists what a notice must contain. A host that receives a notice with all six elements has to act on it to keep its safe-harbour protection. A host that receives a notice missing one of them may disregard it entirely, and is not obliged to tell you which element was missing or that it was disregarded at all. Silence after a notice is therefore ambiguous: it can mean refusal, and it can mean the notice never counted.
Element 1 — Signature
A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act for them. An electronic signature is a typed name preceded by /s/. What this element does is put a named person behind the sworn statements at the end. Omitted: the notice is unsigned and worthless. Rarely omitted in practice.
Element 2 — Identification of the copyrighted work
Identify the work you say was infringed. For a creator with hundreds of posts, describing the body of work and pointing at where it was published is acceptable and normal. Omitted or vague: this is one of the three that gets notices rejected. Phrases like my content or my leaked material identify nothing. Photographs and videos I published on my subscription page, at this address, does.
Element 3 — Identification of the infringing material
Identify what you want removed, specifically enough that the host can find it without searching. In practice that means a full URL per item. Omitted or imprecise: the most common rejection of all. A username, a domain name, a search results page or a screenshot without a URL all fail this element, because the host cannot act on them without guessing.
Element 4 — Contact information
Your address, telephone number and email, sufficient for the host to reply. What this element is for is a route back to you, including for a counter-notice. Omitted: the notice is defective. Worth knowing: this is the element that worries creators most, and it is the reason many file through an authorized agent, which puts the agent's contact details on the notice instead of a home address.
Element 5 — Good-faith statement
A statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law. It has to appear as a statement, not as an implication. Omitted: the third of the three common rejections, and the easiest to avoid, because it is a sentence that can be copied verbatim and never needs changing.
Element 6 — Accuracy statement, under penalty of perjury
A statement that the information is accurate, and that under penalty of perjury you are the owner or are authorized to act for the owner. The words under penalty of perjury have to be present. This element is the reason a notice carries weight and the reason it carries risk: knowingly misrepresenting that material is infringing creates liability under section 512(f). Send notices only for work you own or are authorized to act for.
The three that account for most rejections
- Element 3, imprecise URLs. Give the exact page address for every item, one per line.
- Element 2, a vague description of the work. Name what it is and where you published it.
- Element 5, a missing good-faith statement. Copy the sentence in; it never changes.
Two things that are not required and are worth adding anyway
- The URL of your own original post. It is not an element, and it is the single most persuasive line in the notice.
- Dated screenshots. Not required, and they end most arguments before they start.