How to prove you made your artwork

A flattened JPEG can be made by anyone who downloads your post. A layered file, sketches, a brush-stroke timelapse or a folder of progressive versions is hard to fake. Back them up somewhere with reliable dates; cloud storage with version history works well.

A dated public post on your portfolio or social account is a simple, credible record of first publication. Keep the link. When a platform asks for a link to the work and the date of first publication, this is what you point to.

Embed your name and a copyright notice in the file metadata, and keep your signature or a subtle watermark where it does not spoil the piece. Neither is bulletproof, and metadata is often stripped when a platform re-saves an image, but both make casual copying easier to spot and harder to excuse.

In the US, registering your copyright is generally required before you can file an infringement lawsuit, and it can affect what damages are available. It is not needed to send a DMCA notice. If you sell prints or license work, check the registration options in your own country.

For each work keep the final file, the source files, the first-publication link, and a short log of any copy you find: URLs, screenshots, dates and notices sent. It turns a stressful discovery into a short task.

A valid DMCA notice includes identification of your work, the URLs of the copies, your contact details, a good-faith statement, and a statement under penalty of perjury that your information is accurate and that you are authorised to act (17 U.S.C. 512(c)(3)). The US Copyright Office's DMCA page lists the designated agents that platforms register. With your evidence folder ready you can fill these in quickly and honestly.

Evidence is only useful once you know a copy exists. A reverse image search (Google Lens, TinEye) is a good manual start. If you would rather not check by hand, TraceMyAssets looks for possible copies of the artworks you register and can repeat the scan on a schedule. A match is a possible match, never proof, and we only see public pages that a search engine indexes. You decide what to do with it.

See how to check whether your artwork was reposted.

Do I have to register my copyright to file a takedown? A DMCA takedown does not require registration. It requires that you own the work or are authorised to act for the owner. Registration matters more if you later want to sue, and the rules differ by country.

What is the best single piece of evidence? Your layered or working source file with its timestamps, ideally backed by a dated public first post.