- A false DMCA takedown notice can result in a lawsuit including damages and legal fees.
- Most YouTube takedowns have nothing to do with the DMCA as YouTube has their own proprietary system. This system is extrajudicial. This system has the type of problems you're raising and little recourse.
I actually think the DMCA takedown process itself is problematic, but YouTube's own private one is a whole extra level of abusive.
People need to remember that laws reforming the DMCA would do nothing to fix YouTube's system, unless they outright banned YouTube/Google from operating an extrajudicial system.
In theory one can be sued for filing false takedown notices. In practice it never happens because it requires proving that the defendant knowingly sent a false notice. This is an impossible burden of proof because the defendant can just plead ignorance and/or incompetence.
> A false DMCA takedown notice can result in a lawsuit including damages and legal fees.
Only in a very narrow sense of "false": if the issuer of the takedown claims they have copyright over something they don't. The statement that they have a copyright on some work is made under penalty of perjury.
The statement that your work infringes on their copyright is not made under any penalties at all, and there are no consequences for falsely claiming infringement.
So if you play the Moonlight Sonata, I can't claim that I own the copyright to the Moonlight Sonata and you're infringing. I can claim that I own the copyright to some actual work I own the copyright to (even if totally unrelated) and that your work infringes it.
- Most YouTube takedowns have nothing to do with the DMCA as YouTube has their own proprietary system. This system is extrajudicial. This system has the type of problems you're raising and little recourse.
I actually think the DMCA takedown process itself is problematic, but YouTube's own private one is a whole extra level of abusive.
People need to remember that laws reforming the DMCA would do nothing to fix YouTube's system, unless they outright banned YouTube/Google from operating an extrajudicial system.
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