Someone reuploaded your YouTube video

YouTube’s removal request is for content that uses your copyright without permission. A full reupload of your video, or long unchanged sections of it, is the clear case. So is a “compilation” channel stitching your clips together with no commentary.

Be more careful with a video that quotes a short clip to criticise or review your work. YouTube may ask you to “confirm whether copyright exceptions, such as fair use or fair dealing, have been considered”. In the UK, fair dealing for criticism, review and quotation is narrow, but it exists. A reaction that genuinely discusses your video may be allowed. A reupload with a new title isn’t commentary.

Only claim what you own. If your video uses licensed music, archive footage or someone else’s clip, those parts aren’t yours to claim.

• The exact URL of every copy. YouTube needs content-type URLs, such as www.youtube.com/watch?v= for a video or www.youtube.com/shorts/ for a Short. A channel link doesn’t identify a video.
• Access to the channel that owns the original, if you’re filing in YouTube Studio.
• A description of your work. For example, the title and link of your original video. If several of your videos were copied, YouTube accepts “a representative list of these works”.
• Contact details. YouTube needs at least one of an email address, a physical address or a phone number.
• Your full legal name. YouTube says it “should be a first and last name, not a company name”.
• Dated screenshots of each copy and its channel, in case the video or channel changes.
• Your authority, if you’re filing for someone else. YouTube may ask for evidence.

If disclosing your name is a worry, YouTube says “an authorized representative (such as an attorney) can submit on your behalf”. The free pack at the top of this page is another option: it fills in every box of the form, and you submit it yourself.

YouTube says: “For videos, you can submit in YouTube Studio or by email, fax, or mail. For non-video content, such as channel banner images, submit by email, fax, or mail.”

1. 1

   Open the form in Studio

   “On a computer or mobile browser, sign in to YouTube Studio. From the left menu, select Content detection. Click New removal request.”

2. 2

   Add your contact details

   Give an email address, physical address or phone number. Your address and phone stay confidential unless requested in a lawsuit.

3. 3

   Describe your copyrighted content

   Say what the work is and link to your original. For several works, give a representative list.

4. 4

   Add the links to each copy

   Use the exact URL format for the content type. YouTube says a request “must be sent for each allegation of copyright infringement”, and you can’t report a whole channel or playlist.

5. 5

   Choose your removal options

   Decide between standard removal and a scheduled removal, and whether to prevent copies. Both are explained below.

6. 6

   Confirm the statements and sign

   Tick the two legal statements, then enter your full legal name as your signature and submit.

The two statements you confirm are: “I have a good faith belief that the use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.” And: “The information in this notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, I am the owner, or an agent authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.”

Filing by email, fax or post

Send the same five elements (contact details, a description of your work, links, the two statements and your signature) to copyright@youtube.com. Or fax +1 650 872 8513, or post to Copyright Operations, YouTube (Google LLC), 901 Cherry Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066, USA.

Scheduled removal and prevent copies

• Scheduled removal requests: “You can schedule a copyright removal request to take effect in 7 days. Doing this gives the uploader 7 days to take action and avoid a copyright strike.”
• Prevent copies: “When you submit via YouTube Studio, you can select an option to prevent future copies of the same content from being uploaded again.” YouTube says it uses the same technology as the Copyright Match Tool.

Be specific about the work and what the copy took. This is an example to adapt:

The video at [link to the copy] is a full reupload of my video, which I filmed, edited and narrated and published on my channel on [date]: [link to your original]. It uses my footage and narration unchanged, with no commentary. I have not licensed this channel to use my work.

If YouTube asks for a “more specific title of the copyrighted content”, give the exact title of your original video, not the copier’s title.

YouTube’s own description: “After a copyright removal request is submitted, we review it to make sure it has the information required by copyright law and appears valid. If the request passes the review, we remove the content to comply with copyright law.”

• Machines first, then people. YouTube says automated systems process requests only “when there’s a high degree of confidence” they’re complete and not abusive. Otherwise “a trained human reviewer evaluates the request.”
• YouTube may ask you questions. It may ask for a more specific title, evidence of authority, or confirmation that you’ve considered exceptions. “Until we have all the required information, the content in question may stay up on YouTube during this process.”
• No published review time. YouTube doesn’t give a number of days.
• Watch for official email. YouTube says its official notifications come from no-reply@youtube.com.
• The uploader can see your details. They can request a copy of your request, including the copyright owner’s name, your email addresses, your full legal name and your description of the work.

The volume is large. YouTube says it received removal requests for over 16 million videos in 2022, the latest year it quotes on that page.

• Missing or vague information. No clear description of your work, or no specific title when asked.
• Wrong URL format. A channel page, a playlist or a shortened share link instead of the video or Short URL.
• No authority shown. A representative who can’t show they act for the owner.
• Exceptions not considered. YouTube can ask you to confirm you’ve thought about fair use or fair dealing.
• An invalid signature. A company or channel name instead of a first and last name.
• A false claim. YouTube warns: “Misuse of our processes, such as submitting fraudulent documentation, may result in the termination of your account or other legal consequences.”

A valid removal leads to a copyright strike on the uploader’s channel. That’s different from a Content ID claim: YouTube says claims “usually don’t impact your channel or account”, while “Copyright strikes happen as a result of a valid copyright removal request.”

• Strikes last 90 days if the uploader completes Copyright School, a four-question course. Otherwise the strike stays active.
• Three strikes in 90 days means the account “is subject to termination”, along with linked channels, and the owner “can’t create new YouTube channels”.
• Deleting the video doesn’t clear a strike, except within the 7-day window of a scheduled removal.
• The uploader has three ways out: wait out the 90 days after Copyright School, ask you to retract, or submit a counter notification.

If they counter-notify, YouTube sends it to you. YouTube says “The claimant has 10 US business days” to respond with evidence of legal action. If you don’t, the video is restored. See our guide to counter-notices.

The Copyright Match Tool

YouTube’s eligibility line is short: “The Copyright Match Tool is available to any channel that’s filled out a valid copyright removal request or this form.” There’s no subscriber threshold in YouTube’s current help pages. Your first valid request is the way in. For Partner Programme channels it sits on the Copyright page in YouTube Studio.

• What it looks for: “full reuploads of your videos on other YouTube channels”. It checks videos uploaded after yours, “so it’s important you’re the first one to upload the content to YouTube.”
• What it misses: “If someone used a short clip of your video, it may not be surfaced.” File a removal request for those yourself.
• Videos it won’t check: ones you weren’t first to upload, ones already protected by Content ID, and ones with a Content ID claim.
• What you can do with a match: archive it, request removal with a pre-filled form, or contact the channel.

Use it honestly. YouTube warns that misuse, including “intentional or repeated abuse of the copyright removal request process”, can cost you the feature or your account.

Content ID is a different tool

Content ID is for owners of “a substantial body of original material that is frequently uploaded to YouTube”, and it’s pitched at labels and studios. Most individual creators won’t qualify. Don’t wait for it.

Repeat copiers

Report every new copy. YouTube says: “The number of removal requests against a channel is considered in our enforcement policies.” A channel that collects three strikes within 90 days faces termination.

This is general information, not legal advice. Your video is protected automatically under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as a film, with your script and narration protected as literary works. YouTube runs the same US-style process for UK creators. Its counter notification even handles addresses “outside of the United States” by substituting “the judicial district in which YouTube is located”. If a counter notification arrives and the copying matters enough to keep it down, that’s the point to speak to a solicitor.

The cleanest requests name one work, link it, and list only copies of that work. On another platform, a copy reported twice stayed up while every other report came down, which is why we keep each report to a single clear work and log every date. A dated record also makes your answer quick if YouTube writes back with questions.