As an author, when you run across an unauthorized copy of your work online you might wonder what your options are.  Chances are, someone will tell you to send a DMCA notice.

What is that? It’s part of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act which allows a copyright holder to request removal of the infringing material.

Legally, DMCA notices must come from the copyright owner or their legal representative, such as an agent, publisher, or literary executor.

Since SFWA legally cannot act on behalf of anyone from whom we do not have specific permission for a specific infringement, we are instead providing a sample DMCA notice generator for use by authors.

To send a DMCA notice, first ensure that you are the copyright holder and that the posted copy is infringing. In some cases, your publisher may hold the electronic rights and have posted it legally. Please note that you can be held liable for improper DMCA takedowns, so consult a lawyer specializing in intellectual property if you have any doubts about your rights.

After creating the DMCA notice, find the email address of the website publishing the infringing material and send the notice to them.  If the website address is not apparent, you may look it up by typing in the website address  via a Who Is utility .

(Note: Often sites which post material without permission from the copyright owner are outside the United States and governed by different copyright rules. For those sites there is little which can be done.)

To generate a sample DMCA notice, simply fill out the form below which will generate a sample and send it to your email address. No information entered below is retained by SFWA nor does this constitute legal advice.