Use the Enterprise Copyright Match Tool

Note: In early 2025, the Enterprise Copyright Match Tool replaced what was previously known as the Content Verification Tool. The Enterprise Copyright Match Tool supports the same takedown request processes of the prior feature with additional functionality intended to help streamline and further scale content protection operations.

The Enterprise Copyright Match Tool allows you to use our enterprise webform, which is similar to our webform for copyright removal requests but includes several features to scale your rights management workflow. This includes the ability to search public YouTube videos for content that you own the rights to, automated detection of matches to videos you’ve previously taken down, and the ability to request that YouTube try to prevent copies of taken down videos from being uploaded in the future.

If you find videos that match your content, you can also submit copyright removal requests directly from the enterprise webform.

Access the Enterprise Copyright Match Tool

To access the Enterprise Copyright Match Tool, sign into Studio Content Manager. Make sure that you're signed in to your Content Manager account to access the tool.

Review matching videos

Once a takedown request is successfully processed, the Enterprise Copyright Match Tool will begin scanning new uploads for potential matches to the videos reported in your takedown request. If a match is found, the video will be surfaced in the “Matches” tab of the Enterprise Copyright Match Tool for review.

1. Sign in to Studio Content Manager.
2. From the left menu, click Copyright.
3. Click the Matches tab, you will see user videos that match content that you have previously removed, along with several pieces of information to help review the match:
   • Your asset: This shows you which asset you cited as being infringed in the original removal request that was used as the source of the match.
   • % match: This shows you how much of the surfaced video matches the user video that was removed in the original removal request that was used as the source of the match.
4. Review the matching videos. You can filter the videos based on:
   • Total views: Number of views.
   • % match: Percentage of the video that matches your content.
   • Asset ID: What piece of content the video matches.
   • Subscribers: Channels by number of subscribers.

Find videos that match your content

To search for videos that match your content using the Enterprise Copyright Match Tool:

1. Sign in to Studio Content Manager.
2. From the left menu, click Copyright.
3. Click the Manual search tab.
4. In the filter bar, enter the keywords, video IDs or select a filter and then APPLY.
   • Use the minus symbol ('-') to exclude keywords from your search.
   • You can also search by @username or channel ID to find videos from a particular uploader.
   • You can select from these filters:
     • Allowlisted (whether the video is/isn't on your allowlist)
     • Channel ID
     • Claim status (whether it is/isn't claimed by you or others)
     • Live stream (whether the video is/isn't a live stream)
     • Publishing date
     • Reviewed (whether the claim has been reviewed)
     • Video length (<4 minutes, 4–20 minutes or >20 minutes)

Notes:

• In the search results list, you can click Sort by to sort the results based on relevance, published date or total views.
• To see more results on a single page, click the number next to Rows per page to change it from 30 (default) to 10, 50 or 100.

Submit copyright removal requests

Before you submit, make sure that you understand what personal information is required in a copyright removal request.

Important: Please remember to consider whether fair use, fair dealing, or similar copyright exceptions may apply to the video you are reviewing.

Submit a removal request from "Matches" tab

To submit a removal request for one video:

1. Click the Matches tab, click a video's row to expand it and review the matching video.
2. Check the box next to the video you want to take action on. Choose an action to take:
   • ARCHIVE: This option removes the match from your "Matches" tab. The matching video itself isn't deleted or affected. Archived matches show up in your Archive page.
     • Archived videos can be reviewed at any time and do not expire.
   • TAKEDOWN: This option opens our removal request webform so you can submit a removal request for the matching video. After submitting, you can track your removal requests in the "Removal requests" page.
     • Optional: In the removal request webform, you will have an option to prevent exact copies of the video from appearing on YouTube going forward. If selected, our system will automatically try to prevent copies of the removed video(s) from being uploaded to YouTube. This option can be undone for a removed video on the "Removal requests" page.

Submit a removal request from "Manual claiming" page

To submit a removal request for one video:

1. On the Manual claiming page, click a video's row to expand it.
2. Click Takedown video SELECT ASSET.
3. Using the tabs at the top, you can choose Select asset to choose an existing asset or Create asset to make a new one. Learn how to create assets.
4. If you're selecting an existing asset, click SELECT. If you're creating a new asset, click CREATE.
5. Click the Location of infringing content box to identify the location of the allegedly unauthorized content within the upload.
   • If you select Timestamps, you will be prompted to input start and end times of the allegedly unauthorized content. This indicates to the tool which part of the video (if any) should be used for future matching and reuse prevention. Accurate timestamps are critical to accurate matching and faster takedown requests in the future.
6. Under Acknowledgement, read the statement, then click the tick box to acknowledge the statement.
   • Optional: You may also choose to click the tick box to prevent exact copies of this video from appearing on YouTube going forward. If selected, our system will automatically try to prevent copies of the removed video(s) from being uploaded to YouTube.
7. In the Signature box, enter your first name and surname (not a company name).
8. Click TAKEDOWN.

Submit multiple removal requests

You may be able to submit copyright removal requests in bulk. To request removals of more than one video associated with a single asset:

1. Click the Manual claiming page, click the tick boxes next to the videos that you want to submit a removal request for.
   • Tip: You can select a maximum of 100 videos at once. To do this, at the bottom of the page, make sure that Rows per page is set to 100, then click the tick box above the search results.
2. At the top of the page, click TAKEDOWN.
3. Click the Location of infringing content box to identify the location of the allegedly unauthorized content within the upload.
   • If you select Timestamps, you will be prompted to input start and end times of the allegedly unauthorized content for each selected video row. This indicates to the tool which part of the videos (if any) should be used for future matching and reuse prevention. Accurate timestamps are critical to accurate matching and faster takedown requests in the future.
4. Click SELECT ASSET.
5. Using the tabs at the top, you can choose Select asset to choose an existing asset or Create asset to make a new one. Learn how to create assets.
6. If you're selecting an existing asset, click SELECT. If you're creating a new asset, click CREATE.
7. Under Acknowledgement, read the statement, then click the tick box to acknowledge the statement.
8. In the Signature box, enter your first name and surname (not a company name).
9. Click SUBMIT.

Retract or cancel copyright removal requests

The "Removal requests" tab will allow you to track the status and manage removal requests that have already been submitted. If a removal request has been resolved and resulted in removal of content, it can be retracted.

You also have the option to view other uploads that match the video, and toggle on or off the option to prevent future copies from being uploaded to YouTube.

To retract or cancel a copyright removal request that was submitted using the Enterprise Copyright Match Tool:

1. Sign in to Studio Content Manager.
2. From the left menu, select Copyright.
3. On the top, click on the Removal requests tab.
4. Find the video from your original removal request.
   • Tip: To find the video faster, you can select a filter to find videos by video ID or asset ID that was indicated in the takedown request.
5. Click a video’s row to expand it.
6. Click Retract removal.