Account Banned Due to Fake DMCA - Seeking Justice

Envato Authors CodeCanyon
1

Hello Envato Community,

I am Pharid, a humble developer from Nepal. I joined Envato back in early 2017, full of dreams and passion for creating innovative software. On November 17, 2017, I proudly published my first product on CodeCanyon – an antivirus and security app, the first of its kind on the platform. Over the years, I created many other groundbreaking apps like VPNs, call recorders, call blockers, app lockers, IPTV apps, and more – many of which were also the first on the marketplace.

My journey wasn’t easy, but I was proud to be part of this community. I worked tirelessly to deliver quality products and gained the trust of my buyers. I even became a Level 6 author and a Level 3 buyer, a badge of honor I wore with pride. But everything changed one day.

Out of nowhere, I received an email about a DMCA notice on my IPTV product. I was shocked because I knew the claim was fake. I immediately sent a counter DMCA, confident that this misunderstanding would be resolved. But just 1-2 days later, my account was banned. Thirty-plus products that I had poured my heart and soul into disappeared overnight.

I cannot explain the pain I felt. These weren’t just products; they were years of hard work, sleepless nights, and the foundation of my livelihood. Losing them meant losing everything. My earnings stopped, and I fell into financial hardship. To this day, clients still reach out to me on Telegram and WhatsApp, asking about my products. It hurts to tell them that I cannot provide what they’re looking for anymore.

Despite all this, I never uploaded my products to any other marketplace because I truly loved Envato. I believed in this community and wanted to grow within it. But now, I feel like my dedication and loyalty meant nothing.

I am not just seeking justice for myself – I am seeking hope. Hope that my hard work will not go unnoticed. Hope that Envato will hear my story and give me the chance to continue doing what I love.

Please, if anyone can help me, I would be forever grateful. Envato has always been more than just a platform for me. It was my home, and I want to come back to it.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story.

Sincerely,
Pharid

2

There’s noone here that can help you and you will need to solve the issue with Envato support.

4

I did not receive any help from Envato Support. I even emailed them about it. Very sad

5

I’m not sure about the details regarding to the DMCA notice but the reason why you were blocked could be the item’s purpose can be used illegally as IPTV is not allowed in most of the countries.

It doesn’t fit Envato’s policy and terms.

6

But there are hundreds of similar items in the codecanyon so I think this must not be case.

7

You need to solve the problem with support.

8

Did you review the reason mentioned in the DMCA notice? What were the details?

There’s no need to worry if the claim is false. When Envato receives a DMCA notice, they are required to disable the item immediately to avoid legal complications.

Since you’ve already submitted a counter-notice, Envato will send a copy of it to the individual who filed the DMCA takedown notice (the claimant) and wait for 10 business days. If the claimant does not notify Envato of any legal action taken against you during that time, Envato will reinstate the content within 14 business days from the date they received your counter-notice.

I recommend waiting the full 14 business days for the process to be completed. If you do not receive a response or your item is not reinstated after that period, please contact Envato’s support team for further assistance.

9

@baevox
Account is not banned due to “fake” DMCA, they usually remove the item ONLY.
There’s something else going on here.

10

@ki-themes There could be a specific reason for this, which is why I asked the author about the details mentioned in the DMCA notice that led to the temporary suspension of their item. IPTV likely isn’t the issue, as there are many similar items on Codecanyon.

11

Thank you for your attention. This thing was happened on Jul 1. Its been many months.

The last email I got from Envato was

Jerry (Author)

Jul 1, 2024, 13:22 GMT+10

Hi Pharid,

As mentioned, your account has been disabled due to multiple DMCA notices and infringements.

We will not be re-enabling your account at this time, and have no further information to provide to you.

Kind Regards,
Jerry
(GMT+11.00; Melbourne)

12

This is the response I received from Envato Support on July 1. As authors, we received DMCAs and sent counter-DMCAs for each one, which I followed. Since 2017, I have received at least 6 DMCA notices and have responded with counter-DMCA notices to all of them.

Does it make any sense to block my account for that reason? :frowning:

13

@pharid I initially thought this was your first DMCA notice, which was received recently, and that’s why I suggested waiting. However, it seems this is not the case. You appear to have received multiple DMCA notices, so there must be a reason why Envato took this action. Have you checked the reasons mentioned in each of the DMCA notices you’ve received?

14

And what exactly did you do I don’t understand?

15

No need to check, the last email you received has summarized that they are not going to activate your account as they have rights to do that.

One DMCA is something, 6 is another thing.

18

Nothing special in the last DMCA. It was completely same like old DMCA like a default DMCA Template from the Envato. It is very unfair :frowning:

19

6 DCMA is too much.

20

I think something is wrong with your product or source code. Also, as @ki-themes said, 6 is really too much. I also got DMCA in 2022. At that time, I wasn’t aware of DMCAs, licenses, and policies. After I got my first DMCA. I realised and read all the things carefully. Because it’s a serious issue. You have to be very clear on this part. I always suggest taking time and reading all things carefully first. I closed the DMCA by truly accepting my mistake with Envato, and I requested they review my code again. Initially, my item was hard rejected. But I humbly requested, and they published the product. In my case, I was truly accepted for my side mistake, and I said, I won’t happen again, then I removed the copyrighted content from my code, and finally I made a request. @pharid It’s all happened only by discussing with the Enavto author support. So, here we can give our insights, but you cannot get help.