How to Dispute False YouTube Copyright Claims (🫣 Real Case)

Receiving a copyright claim on YouTube can be frustrating, especially when you know you haven’t done anything wrong (or have you? 👀). Whether it's using royalty-free music, original content, or something within fair use, claims can happen. In fact, We can assure you that 100% of content creators have ever received a claim. In this guide, I’ll walk you through how to dispute false (or not) YouTube copyright claims, the options available, and what to write in your dispute.

🔎 First Steps: Recognizing a Claim Notification

The first thing you might receive is an email notification that looks something like this:

ℹ️ Important information here

The name of the claimant: 佛 - 米叔啊 .
Content owners: (This is the music distributor) [Merlin] EWway Music
Content type: Audio
Impact on video: Not monetising

🎩 My recommendation is to always verify that the email is from YouTube. Sometimes scammers try to steal your account by sending you this kind of emails, as the sender is "[email protected]" it is a real claim. As a second check, If the claim is recent, you’ll also see it in your YouTube Studio dashboard: https://studio.youtube.com. In our case it appears like this:

What is a YouTube Copyright Claim?

A copyright claim happens when someone says that content in your video, like music, images, or footage, belongs to them. Not all claims are correct; sometimes, they are made by mistake or falsely by third parties. When you receive a claim, YouTube usually won’t take down your video but might place ads on it, redirect the revenue, or restrict its visibility in some countries. If you’re sure the claim is wrong, you can dispute it.

Differences Between Copyright Claims and Copyright Strikes

A strike is something you never want to see in your life, no seriously, you start sweating and the first thing you think is that YouTube is going to delete your channel. And you are not far from reality, with 3 strikes during 90 days you get your account deleted. In fact, look what a strike looks like:

But let's be honest, a copyright claim IS NOT a strike. Again, a COPYRIGHT CLAIM ≠ STRIKE. again? Okay I'm going to stop here. But seriously, I can be sure that all content creators have some active copyright claim right now.

A copyright claim is a notice when someone believes that part of your video uses their copyrighted content (in our case, a song or sound), often detected by YouTube's Content ID system. Claims do not directly penalize your channel, but can affect your monetization or video visibility.

🤨 Is the Claim Legitimate?

🚩 Red Flags or Signs of Fake Copyright Claims (90% of cases):

• The claimant’s name does not match the song title or original artist.
• The copyright matches the whole song duration.
• Searching the claimed song on YouTube shows it was recently uploaded with few views, suggesting the claimant might be a song thief.

✅ Signs of a Legitimate Claim (10% of cases):

• The claimant’s name matches the original artist and song title.

Well here are two options:

• 7% of cases. You have not given credits correctly, the system detects that things are missing in the description. For tracks from our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakingCopyright, make sure you’ve credited the artist properly, included any required social media links, and provided the correct license link if it’s a Creative Commons license. If you haven't credited the artist correctly, update your video description with the correct information to avoid future issues.

• 3% of cases. The original artist has decided to change the license of the song. This is a rare case, but it has happened to us. Many times artists are tired of fighting copyright claims on their own songs and end up registering their songs in YouTube's copyright system. Technically, if you can prove that you used the song with the previous license, your dispute should be valid and the claim should be removed. If this doesn't happen, you would have to go legally against the artist... which costs money and time and many people decide to quit. Anyway, I repeat, these are very, very rare cases. Most artists comply with their Creative Commons licenses.

🏗️ Step-by-Step Dispute Process

Now that you’ve established the nature of the claim, follow these steps to dispute it. It's easier to do this on a computer:

1️⃣. Go to YouTube Studio, find the video with the claim, and go to the monetization section. You’ll see something like this:

2️⃣. Click “See Details” to view a summary of the claim

3️⃣. Click “Select Action” and choose “Dispute”.

4️⃣. Choose the reason for your dispute. For songs from our channel, select “License” because our songs are usually under Creative Commons or uploaded with artist permission. Remember to credit the artist properly before proceeding.

5️⃣. In the “Details” section, check “I have permission to use the content from the copyright owner”.

6️⃣. In the “Rationale” section, provide information to justify your dispute. Check all necessary boxes and sign the form. Customize your text according to your case. For example, if the original artist is Sappheiros, include the song's license link and the artist’s social media where the license can be verified.

Example dispute text:

Hi YouTube, this is a fake copyright claim. The original song was produced by Sappheiros: https://soundcloud.com/sappheirosmusic/awake-1. The license of the song is Creative Commons: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/. Remove immediately this fake artist from your systems.

After clicking “Submit”, you’ll receive a confirmation that the dispute has been sent. YouTube typically responds within 30 days (often sooner), and you’ll get an email notification

💸 What About My Revenue?

During the dispute, the revenue generated by the video is held in a limbo or in a escrow status. Once the dispute is resolved, the money is transfered to the winning party.

😈 Why Does YouTube Allow Content Thieves?

This is a complex topic, similar to the chicken-and-egg dilemma 🥚🐓. From YouTube’s perspective, it’s challenging to verify the true creator of content uploaded by users. The music that it's registered in the YouTube Content-ID system must be uploaded through a music distributor, in the case of this post [Merlin] EWway Music (these are a limited number of companies with the ability to access this copyright system), and if YouTube notices multiple disputes against a specific claimant, they may report the distributor, leading to account termination (fortunately) of the claimant. This is why disputing false claims is crucial—it helps expose scammers and protect creators.

✅ How to Avoid This in the Future

If you’ve completed the process, now you just need to wait—YouTube says up to 30 days, but it’s often resolved in 7 days. To avoid these problems in the future, especially if you plan to make a career as a content creator, consider subscribing to a paid music library, which offers more secure licensing. Popular options like EpidemicSound offer thousands of tracks and sound effects, minimizing the risk of copyright claims. 🧠➡️ Free trial here: https://share.epidemicsound.com/fovcsk.

You might wonder if we’re promoting competitors, but our mission at BreakingCopyright has always been to support independent musicians and video creators without resources. However, if I were starting a long term career as a content creator today, a paid library could be the best investment for a hassle-free content creation journey.