Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a counter-notice is a legal means to state your objection to a copyright infringement warning that you’ve received from Flickr regarding a report of allegedly infringing copyrighted material on your account.
If you have received a copyright infringement warning
If you have received such a DMCA/copyright infringement warning from Flickr and believe your material was removed by mistake and your posting of the material does not infringe the copyright holder’s rights, you may file a counter-notice.
Flickr is unable to provide you with legal advice regarding copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property matters. If you are unsure if you should file a counter-notice, you may want to seek legal guidance. You may also want to contact the copyright holder directly.
How to file a Counter-Notice
To be effective within the meaning of the DMCA, a counter notification shall be in writing and include the following (which is excerpted from 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3)):
- Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled, including the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled;
- A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of a mistake or misidentification;
- Your name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for the judicial district in which the address provided by you is located (or if the address provided by you is outside the United States, you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for any judicial district in which Flickr may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided the notice or an agent of such person; and
- A physical or electronic signature of your full name on the counter notification.
Any counter notification shall be submitted to Flickr’s copyright agent in accordance with the contact information provided on the Copyright and Intellectual Property Policy page.
To submit a counter-notification, please use the counter-notification form:
- Select Trust & Safety.
- Select the I would like to file a counter-notification option.
What happens next?
Flickr responds to effective and complete DMCA counter-notices. In appropriate instances, we will forward a copy of counter-notices (including all required elements) to the copyright holder, advising them that Flickr intends to replace or re-enable access to the material in question in ten to fourteen (10–14) business days following the date of the counter-notice.
If, within ten to fourteen (10-14) business days following the date of the counter-notice, we do not receive notice from the copyright holder that a court action has been filed to restrain the allegedly infringing material from being further posted on Flickr, the material will be reinstated in your account. In some circumstances, you may need to repost the material - for example if it no longer exists on our severs.