You received a copyright infringement demand letter: what should you do?

Most of what decides how serious a copyright demand really is sits in the federal rules on registration and remedies, which our page on copyright and trademark law introduces. These letters usually follow a photo, song, video clip or piece of text turning up on a website, social account or product. This page is for the person on the receiving end: what to check, what to avoid, and how the response options compare.

How a copyright demand usually unfolds, step by step

1. The demand arrives. It may be a letter or email to you, or a takedown notice to the platform hosting your post. A takedown notice must include a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the sender is authorized to act for the owner of the right (17 U.S.C. 512(c)(3)).
2. You check the facts and keep your records: ownership, registration dates, when your use began, and any permission.
3. You respond, using one of the options compared below.
4. If it is not resolved, the owner picks a forum. That can be a Copyright Claims Board claim, which you may opt out of within 60 days of service, or a federal lawsuit, which for a U.S. work needs a registration or a refusal first (section 411(a)).
5. If you are sued, the clock is short. A defendant generally must serve an answer within 21 days after being served with the summons and complaint, or 60 days after a waiver request was sent if service was waived (Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(a)). Our page on copyright lawsuits in Atlanta federal court covers what follows.

What should you look for in the letter itself?

Start with the specifics. Which work does it identify, and where is the alleged copy? Who claims to own it, and does the letter say how: as the creator, or through an assignment or license? What does it ask for: removal, a license fee, a settlement figure, a reply by a set date? Does it cite a registration number, threaten a lawsuit, or refer to a claim before the Copyright Claims Board? A letter is the sender's opening position, not a court ruling, and its numbers are not findings. Our post on cease and desist letters explains how these letters are put together and what they are meant to do.

How do you check whether the work is registered?

Search the Copyright Office's Copyright Public Records System by registration number, author, publisher or claimant. It holds registration and recordation records from 1978 to the present, including the relevant dates. It does not show the status of pending applications, so a missing record does not prove nothing has been filed. Write down the effective date of registration and the date of first publication, then compare both with the date your use began.

Why does the registration date change your exposure?

Two rules work together. For a U.S. work, the owner generally cannot file an infringement suit until the Copyright Office has registered the claim or refused it (17 U.S.C. 411(a)). And a court may not award statutory damages or attorney's fees for infringement of an unpublished work that began before the effective date of registration, or for infringement that began after publication but before registration, unless the work was registered within three months of first publication (17 U.S.C. 412).

When statutory damages are available, they run from $750 to $30,000 per work, and up to $150,000 per work if the owner proves willfulness (17 U.S.C. 504(c)). When they are not, the owner has to prove actual damages and any profits you made from the use. For one photo on a small business website, that difference can change the whole conversation. Our page on copyright infringement damages covers each remedy in detail.

Does it help that you did not know the work was protected?

Sometimes, and less than people hope. If you prove you were not aware and had no reason to believe your use was infringing, a court may reduce statutory damages to as little as $200 per work (504(c)(2)). That lowers the amount; it does not erase liability. And if a proper copyright notice appeared on the published copies you had access to, the court gives the innocent infringer defense no weight, apart from a narrow exception for certain nonprofit schools, libraries, archives and public broadcasters (17 U.S.C. 401(d)). A proper notice has three parts: the © symbol (or the word "Copyright" or "Copr."), the year of first publication, and the owner's name (401(b)). Finding the work online, or crediting the creator, is not permission, a point our post Debunking Copyright's Most Common Myths, Part I makes plainly.

Is there a time limit on the claim?

Yes. A civil claim must be filed within three years after it accrued (17 U.S.C. 507(b)), and a Copyright Claims Board proceeding has the same three-year limit (17 U.S.C. 1504(b)). When a claim accrues is less settled than it sounds. In Warner Chappell Music v. Nealy (2024), the Supreme Court held that an owner with a timely claim can recover damages no matter when the infringement occurred, while leaving open whether a claim accrues when the owner discovers the infringement or when it happens. An old use is not automatically safe.

What are your options for responding?

• Take it down. Removing the material while you assess the claim keeps the use from growing.
• License it. If you want to keep using the work, ask for a license that covers past and future use in writing.
• Dispute it. If the sender does not own the work, you had a license, or the use may fall within an exception such as fair use, say so with evidence.
• Negotiate. If some exposure is real, the registration and timing facts above are what set a sensible figure.

What if the claim comes through the Copyright Claims Board?

A claim before the Copyright Claims Board is a government proceeding with a deadline, not just a letter. After you are served, you have 60 days to opt out in writing (17 U.S.C. 1506(i)). The notice must state that if you do not opt out in time, you lose the chance to have a federal court decide the dispute and you waive a jury trial (1506(g)(1)). You can opt out through the Board's eCCB system without giving a reason; the claim is dismissed, and the claimant may sue in federal court instead, where your opting out will not be held against you (CCB Handbook, Opting Out; CCB FAQ). If you stay in, total damages are capped at $30,000 and statutory damages at $15,000 per timely registered work (1504(e)), and any determination, including a money award, is enforceable in court (CCB, Respondent Information).

What changes the answer

• Whether the sender can sue. Only the legal or beneficial owner of the exclusive right at issue may sue for its infringement (17 U.S.C. 501(b)). A letter from someone with only a nonexclusive license is a weaker threat.
• Music has two owners. Musical works and sound recordings are separate categories of protected work (17 U.S.C. 102(a)), so a song in your video can draw letters from a publisher and a label. Our page on the two copyrights in a recorded song explains the split.
• Fair use. A fair use is not an infringement, judged on four factors: the purpose of the use, the nature of the work, how much was used, and the effect on the market for the work (17 U.S.C. 107).
• Who posted it. A website or platform that stores material at a user's direction can avoid money damages if it meets the conditions in section 512(c), including a designated agent on file with the Copyright Office; the agent designation fee is $6 (Copyright Office fees).
• A small claim instead of a suit. At the Copyright Claims Board, a work registered too late for statutory damages in court can still support statutory damages of up to $7,500 per work and $15,000 per proceeding (1504(e)(1)(A)), which matters when you decide whether to opt out.

A worked example

Common mistakes after a demand letter

• Ignoring it. Silence leaves the next step to the sender, and a Copyright Claims Board claim that you neither opt out of nor answer can end in a default determination against you (CCB FAQ).
• Throwing away records. If you take the material down, keep copies of what was posted, where it came from, when it went up and what, if anything, it earned. You will need them to answer the timing questions above.
• Replying with admissions. A quick apology that concedes copying, knowledge or revenue figures can follow you into a negotiation or a case. Anything you write may be read by a court or the Board later.
• Paying the first number before checking registration, publication and timing.
• Keeping the material up while you think. Willfulness can raise statutory damages to as much as $150,000 per work, and continuing a use after a specific notice may be argued as evidence of it.
• Firing off a counter-notice. A counter-notice is a statement under penalty of perjury that consents to a federal court's jurisdiction (512(g)(3)); send one only when the facts support it.

What to do this week

1. Put every date on the calendar: the reply date in the letter and, if Board papers were served, the 60-day opt-out deadline.
2. Look up the work in the Copyright Public Records System and write down the effective date of registration and the date of first publication.
3. Save the post, the file, where it came from, the date it went up and anything it earned, then take it down while you assess.
4. Search your email and receipts for any license, stock purchase or permission covering the work.
5. Write nothing back yet. Our post on copyright and trademark infringement lists what an owner must prove, which helps frame the reply.
6. If you are in the Atlanta area, our Atlanta IP and entertainment lawyer page explains which federal court would hear a case.

Frequently asked questions

Is a demand letter the same as being sued?

No. A lawsuit starts when a complaint is filed in federal district court and served on you, which starts your 21-day answer deadline. A letter carries no court deadline of its own, only the date the sender chose.

Does taking the material down end the claim?

No. Removal stops the use from growing, but the owner can still claim for the past use within the three-year limit.

What happens if you send a counter-notice to a platform?

To keep its own protection, the platform forwards it to the sender and puts the material back 10 to 14 business days after receiving it, unless the sender first tells the platform it has filed a lawsuit to stop you (512(g)(2)). Sending one can invite that lawsuit.

You only used a few seconds or a few lines. Is that safe?

Not automatically. The amount used is one fair use factor, weighed with the other three, and the statute sets no fixed number of seconds or words. Our post on legal ways to use copyrighted works explains how fair use is judged.

The letter is about a music video you paid for. Who is responsible?

That depends on who owns the video and what your agreement says about the music in it. Our page on who owns a music video walks through the ownership questions to answer first.

Can the sender take you to state court?

Not on the copyright claim. No state court has jurisdiction over claims arising under the copyright statute (28 U.S.C. 1338(a)), so a copyright suit belongs in federal court.

Zala IP Law handles infringement response for creators, entrepreneurs and production companies across the United States. If a demand letter or claim has arrived, request a consultation or call 404-313-1701 before you reply.