The counterfeit listing uses your product photos. Same angles, same lighting, same white background, because the seller downloaded them from your store. That theft is the fastest route to getting the listing removed, and most brands ignore it. They file a trademark complaint about the product, wait in the trademark queue, and argue about authenticity while the listing sells. The photos are a separate infringement with a separate filing path, and it is the quicker one.
Copyright covers your original photos the moment you take them. You do not need a registration to file a DMCA notice, though registration changes the remedies available to you. The notice needs the original work identified, the infringing listing pinpointed by URL, and a statement under penalty of perjury that the claim is accurate. That is the whole filing, and platforms are required to act on it expeditiously, which in practice means 24 to 48 hours for a clear case.
Trademark complaints invite an argument about the product. The seller claims the item is genuine, or parallel imported, or a compatible product, and the platform has to weigh that. A copyright complaint about photos invites no argument at all: either the seller took the photos themselves or they did not, and the comparison between your original file and the listing image settles it. DMCA takedown services report that on clean, properly documented complaints Amazon removes counterfeit listings within 24 to 48 hours.
The same logic applies on eBay. A Notice of Claimed Infringement for trademark goes through VeRO, but a DMCA copyright notice goes to eBay's designated copyright agent, and the two queues move at different speeds. File both if both apply, but file the photo complaint first, because it is the one that does not depend on proving the product is fake.
Identify the original work: the photo, with the URL where it first appeared and the date if you have it. Pinpoint the infringing material: the listing URL and the specific images. State that you are the owner or authorized to act for the owner, and that you believe in good faith the use is not authorized. Sign it under penalty of perjury. A notice missing any of those elements can be rejected, and a rejected notice is a week lost.
Keep the original files. The RAW file or the earliest dated export is the evidence that you took the photo, and it is what you produce if the seller files a counter-notice. A counter-notice under 17 U.S.C. section 512(g) triggers a 10 to 14 business day restoration window unless you file a court action first, so the counter-notice clock is the real deadline in any photo takedown. Know it before you file, not after the listing comes back.
Watermarking helps, but only if the watermark survives cropping. A watermark in the corner gets cropped out in seconds. A watermark across the center of the image, light enough not to hurt the sale and visible enough to survive a crop, is the one that shows up in the counterfeiter's listing and proves the theft. The goal is not to make the photo unusable. It is to make the theft provable.
The better defense is volume and speed. Monitor for your images, not just your brand name, because image search catches listings that text search misses. A service that files DMCA notices against every listing reusing your photos, across every platform, turns a one-off takedown into a standing process. Counterfeiters do not stop after one takedown. They create new seller accounts and relist, and the monitoring sweep that catches the new listing is what makes the first takedown stick.
Keep reading: Your Listing Is Back After a Takedown. Which of the Three Is It?, A Test Purchase Is Evidence. Treat the Package Like It Matters., and Counterfeits in Paid Search: When the Fake Listing Is an Ad, Not a Marketplace Page cover the nearby cases in this series.
No. Copyright exists from the moment you create the photo. A notice needs the original work identified, the infringing URL pinpointed, and a statement under penalty of perjury. Registration changes the remedies available, not the ability to file.
The DMCA requires expeditious removal, interpreted as 24 to 48 hours for clear cases. Amazon aims for under 24 hours on clean filings, and eBay typically removes within 24 hours of a valid notice.
Under 17 U.S.C. section 512(g), the platform restores the material no sooner than 10 and no later than 14 business days after receiving a valid counter-notice, unless you notify the platform that you have filed a court action. That window is the real deadline.
Across the center of the image, light enough not to hurt the sale. A corner watermark gets cropped out in seconds. The goal is to make the theft provable when the image reappears in a counterfeit listing.