There are two gaps in the DMCA that should get fixed: - there's no penalty for filing a knowingly-false DMCA takedown notice, aside from getting a judge angry

There are two gaps in the DMCA that should get fixed: - there's no penalty for filing a knowingly-false DMCA takedown notice, aside from getting a judge angry at you for wasting their time (which, generally, is a bad idea) - there's no penalty for filing multiple takedown notices on the same work, since the uploader would have to spend the time and money to take the claimant to court But the issue in this case is that there's another four or five steps before you, as the uploader, can make your claim before a magistrate because YouTube has their own process in front of the DMCA. On top of that, YT allows automated scans and takedowns; there's no lawyer-signed letters to show a judge until much later. YouTube only requires you to click a "I own this" checkbox, and does no due diligence (at least not publicly) of the verification video that's uploaded into Content ID. And given the church with which YouTube promotes videos, there's not really much incentive to spend the time and money on a legal fight for a video that's fallen off the recommendation engine's radar.