DMCA Policy

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) establishes the procedure the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) must follow when users of our sites, including the Archive of Our Own (AO3), reproduce copyrighted material without authorization. Specifically, 17 U.S.C. § 512 protects the OTW from potential liability when infringing content is present on our sites.

The OTW will respond promptly to notices of alleged copyright infringement that substantially comply with all legal requirements. However, we believe that transformative fanworks are legal, and we reserve the right to review the allegedly infringing content and independently determine whether it is infringing. If you have any questions about our DMCA Policy, please contact the OTW Legal committee.

My work was posted on AO3 without my permission. What can I do?

If you encounter content on AO3 that you believe infringes on your copyright, you have the following options:

  • Submit an Abuse report: Abuse reports are evaluated by the Policy & Abuse committee for violations of the AO3 Terms of Service, and held to a very high standard of confidentiality. When submitting an Abuse report about copyright infringement, you must provide a link to the violating content on AO3 and clearly identify the original source in your report description. For more information, please refer to the Terms of Service FAQ.
  • File a DMCA takedown notice: DMCA takedown notices can only be filed by the copyright owner or someone legally authorized to act on their behalf. DMCA notices must be sent to the OTW's designated agent and comply with all legal requirements. DMCA notices are not subject to confidentiality. The OTW reserves the right to make public all DMCA notices that we receive, though some information may be redacted for privacy.

Please do not submit an Abuse report if you intend to file a DMCA notice. Submitting both an Abuse report and a DMCA notice about the same content may delay the processing of both requests.

Filing a DMCA takedown notice

To initiate a formal DMCA takedown request, contact the OTW's designated agent using the Legal committee's contact form, via email to [email protected], or by mailing a letter to:

Organization for Transformative Works
228 Park Ave S #18156
New York, NY 10003-1502
Attention: Legal

We prefer to receive DMCA requests through the contact form or by email.

Requirements of a DMCA takedown notice

The takedown notice must substantially comply with the requirements of 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3)(A). You are also required to consent to the jurisdiction of a United States court. The legal requirements of a valid DMCA takedown notice include:

  1. your physical or electronic signature;
  2. your contact information;
  3. identification of the copyrighted work being infringed upon (for example, a URL or publication listing);
  4. the URL(s) of the specific content on our site that you believe to be infringing;
  5. a statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use of the content is not authorized by the copyright owner(s), their agent, or the law;
    1. a statement, made under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner; and
    2. a statement that the information you have provided is accurate.

Per 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), you may be subject to liability if you knowingly and materially misrepresent your claim that the content infringes on your copyright.

DMCA takedown process

If the OTW receives a DMCA takedown notice that fulfills all legal requirements, we will remove the content once we review the validity of the infringement claim.

When the content is removed from AO3, the information you provided in the DMCA takedown notice will be forwarded to the owner of the account responsible for posting the content. We may also send a redacted version of the DMCA takedown notice to Lumen and other third parties at our discretion.

If the account owner believes that their content does not infringe upon your copyright, they may file a DMCA counternotice disputing the takedown. The account owner can file a DMCA counternotice at any point after the content has been removed; there is no time limit.

If the OTW receives a valid DMCA counternotice, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you. You will have 10 business days to file a lawsuit to prevent the restoration of the content. If you do not notify us within 10 business days that you have filed a lawsuit, we will allow the content to be restored in accordance with 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(2)(B)-(C).

I was notified that my work was removed from AO3 due to a DMCA takedown notice. What can I do?

Copyright infringement and plagiarism are violations of Sections II.D and II.E of our Terms of Service, respectively. For more information, please refer to our Terms of Service FAQ.

If the OTW receives a valid DMCA takedown notice for content you uploaded to AO3, we will remove the content and notify you by email. We may also send a redacted version of the DMCA takedown notice to Lumen and other third parties at our discretion.

If your content was removed due to a DMCA takedown notice, you cannot reupload or repost the content unless you have filed a DMCA counternotice to dispute the takedown. If you reupload or repost the content without filing a DMCA counternotice, we may suspend your account.

Filing a DMCA counternotice

If you believe that your content does not infringe on the copyright owner's rights, you can file a DMCA counternotice to dispute the takedown. By filing a counternotice, you are indicating that you are willing to defend your use of the original copyrighted material in court if the party who submitted the original takedown notice chooses to pursue legal action against you.

If you are considering whether to file a DMCA counternotice, we recommend that you contact an intellectual property lawyer licensed to practice in your jurisdiction, so that you are aware of your legal rights and obligations. You can also review the Lumen DMCA Explanation and FAQ.

To initiate a formal DMCA counter-notification request, contact the OTW's designated agent using the Legal committee's contact form, via email to [email protected], or by mailing a letter to:

Organization for Transformative Works
228 Park Ave S #18156
New York, NY 10003-1502
Attention: Legal

We prefer to receive DMCA requests through the contact form or by email.

You can file a DMCA counternotice at any point after your content has been removed; there is no time limit.

Requirements of a DMCA counternotice

The counternotice must substantially comply with the requirements of 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3). You are also required to consent to the jurisdiction of a United States court. The legal requirements of a valid DMCA counternotice include:

  1. your physical or electronic signature;
  2. your name, address, and phone number;
  3. the URL(s) of the content that was removed;
  4. a statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the content was removed due to a mistake or misidentification;
  5. a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of a U.S. federal court in either:
    1. the district where you live, if you are in the U.S.; or
    2. the district where the OTW is located (Manhattan, New York), if you are not in the U.S.; and
  6. a statement that you will accept service of process from the party who submitted the original takedown notice.

Per 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), you may be subject to liability if you knowingly and materially misrepresent your claim that the content was removed due to a mistake or misidentification.

DMCA counter-notification process

If the OTW receives a valid DMCA counternotice, we will make reasonable efforts to notify the party who submitted the original takedown notice.

The original submitter will have 10 business days to prevent the restoration of your content by filing a lawsuit against you. If the original submitter does not file a lawsuit within 10 business days, the OTW will restore your content (or, if your content has already been deleted, allow you to reupload it) between 10 and 14 business days after we receive the counternotice. We may also send a redacted version of the DMCA counternotice to Lumen and other third parties at our discretion.

Repeat offenses

As required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(i)(1)(A), we may suspend users who repeatedly violate others' copyright. The OTW has the discretion to decide what qualifies as a repeated offense.

AO3's DMCA policy is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Material in this policy has been drawn from Dreamwidth, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Wikipedia.