Free UK copyright notice generator
Fill in the form, and the generator writes a copyright notice in your own name with what UK law looks for: your full name and address, where the copies are, and why they infringe. You copy it, download it or open it in your email, and you send it yourself.
The UK has no DMCA-style form that a notice must follow. What matters is knowledge: under regulation 19 of the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002, a hosting service that gains actual knowledge of unlawful material and does not act expeditiously to remove it loses its protection from damages and other money claims. Regulation 22 says what a court looks at to decide whether a notice gave that knowledge.
The generator also writes a follow-up and an escalation to the hosting provider. Nothing you type is sent to us or stored: the notice is put together in your browser.
Step by step
Collect the links
Copy the exact address of every page or file that shows your work. Regulation 22 looks at the details of where the material is.
Find the contact point
Look for a copyright, legal, abuse or contact page. Services must publish contact details including an email address (regulation 6(1)(c)), and whether your notice came through that channel is one of the things a court looks at.
Create your notice
Fill in the form below, including your postal address, read the statement and sign it by typing your name. Copy, download or open it in your email.
Keep a record and follow up
Note the date you sent it and keep a copy. If the copies are still online, send the follow-up, then the escalation to the hosting provider.
What a UK notice should contain
Regulation 22 lists what a court has regard to when it decides whether a host had actual knowledge. The first is about where you send the notice; the generator puts the other three in it:
- Whether the notice came through the contact details the service publishes (this is about where you send it, not what it says).
- Your full name and address. This is why the UK form asks for a postal address.
- Details of the location of the material: the exact URLs.
- Details of why it is unlawful: that it copies your work, and that copying and communicating a work to the public are acts restricted by copyright under sections 16, 17 and 20 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The notice also identifies your work, gives your email address, and ends with a statement that the information is accurate and that you believe in good faith the use is not authorized.
Before you send it
- Make sure you own the copyright, or that the owner has asked you to act for them. If you made the photos or videos yourself, you usually own them, unless you assigned the rights in a contract.
- Check that the use is not covered by a permitted act, such as fair dealing for criticism, review or quotation.
- Be accurate. A notice leads a host to remove someone's material, so send it only for copies of your own work, and only when you are sure.
Who to send it to
Send it to the service where the copies are, at the contact details it publishes. Many UK and international sites also publish a DMCA policy and accept a notice in that form; our DMCA page writes one. DMCA notice generator
When the service does not respond, find who hosts it: a hosting lookup of the domain shows the hosting provider or the network behind it (a WHOIS shows the registrar), and many sites sit behind a CDN such as Cloudflare, which forwards abuse reports to the host. Send the escalation to the host's abuse or copyright address.
What happens next
A host that acts removes the material or disables access to it. If nobody acts, the next steps are legal ones. The High Court (in Scotland, the Court of Session) can grant an injunction against a service provider that has actual knowledge of someone using its service to infringe copyright (section 97A of the 1988 Act). Talk to a lawyer before you go that way.
Some services ignore notices, especially sites that host leaked content on purpose. That is when following up with the host and the search engines matters, and when many creators prefer to have it done for them. See how we send takedowns for you
The notice generator and form field helper need JavaScript. Enable JavaScript to use the tool; you can still read this guide.
Frequently asked questions
Is this UK notice generator free?
Yes. You need no account and pay nothing. You fill in the form, and you send the notice yourself.
Do you see or keep what I type?
No. The notice is put together in your browser and nothing you type, including your address, is sent to Adult Model Protection or stored. Our analytics record that a notice was created, copied, downloaded or opened in email, and on which page, and the generator is excluded from session replays. The form values are never sent.
Why does the UK notice need my address?
Regulation 22 names the full name and address of the sender as one of the things a court looks at. A notice without them may count for less.
Is there a UK equivalent of the DMCA?
Not as one procedure. Copyright is in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and the notice-and-takedown effect comes from the hosting rules in the Electronic Commerce Regulations 2002.
Can someone else send the notice for me?
Yes. In the form, choose that you act for the owner and give the owner's name.
Sources
- The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002, regulation 19 (legislation.gov.uk) (opens in a new tab)
- The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002, regulation 22 (legislation.gov.uk) (opens in a new tab)
- Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 16 (legislation.gov.uk) (opens in a new tab)
- Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 97A (legislation.gov.uk) (opens in a new tab)
- ICANN Registration Data Lookup (WHOIS) (opens in a new tab)