Five reasons Google rejects DMCA notices
Filing a DMCA notice isn’t hard, but a noticeable share of them come back rejected. Almost always, the cause is one of five mistakes.
1. The link points to the wrong page
Google removes specific URLs from its results. A link to the site’s homepage, a search results page or a catalog section won’t work: you need the address of the exact page where the copy lives.
2. The original isn’t identified
The notice has to describe which work is being infringed and, ideally, link to the original. Without that, the reviewer has nothing to compare the copy against.
3. Your content isn’t on the page
Your course title in a headline isn’t infringement. If the page doesn’t contain the content itself or a link to download it, the notice will be rejected.
4. It looks like fair use
Quotes, reviews, criticism, parody: US law allows these uses without the author’s permission. A review with a screenshot from your course most likely can’t be removed under the DMCA.
5. The notice wasn’t filed by the rights holder
A notice can be filed by the owner of the rights or by someone they’ve authorized. If you resell someone else’s course under a license, for example, you may not have the right to file. It depends on your contract.
The DMCA makes knowingly false notices a liability (section 512(f)), so checking before filing isn’t a formality. We review every link by hand and only file when the infringement is clear.