Do I have to provide email and an agent for Copyright Complaints?

Question

I have a website and it works better for me to just have an online Copyright Complaint form, under DMCA Notice of Alleged Infringement.

But I see that big websites accept notices through email and through a designated agent with telephone and physical direction (apart from the online form). But that would be more work for me.

Is that a legal requirement or with the online form would be just fine?

Answer 1

There is no specific requirement on how to receive takedown notices as long as third party authors can send you notices easily. Dropbox, for example, has an online form:

While 500px uses an email address only:

It's worth reading the current best practices on DMCA takedown notices (we researched DMCA here):

• Make your process clear
• Provide multiple links to your DMCA section, i.e. in your Terms agreement, in the footer of your website, in a FAQ section of your website.
• Provide your contact information or a contact form
• Help third parties authors to send you a complete report, i.e. users should provide the URL with the infringing content to you. Consider Dropbox's example from above.