alt Hacker NewsThe perjury part of the DMCA doesn't do what you (and most people) think. It attaches only to the DMCA claimant's authority to act on behalf of the copyright he's alleging is being infringed. It does not attach to the veracity of the allegation itself.
For example, the copyright holder for Bad Apple could face a perjury charge if he issued a DMCA takedown request alleging that something on the internet violates the copyright to Snow White (which he presumably does not own), but would not risk a perjury (in particular) penalty for issuing a takedown request for "Stairway to Heaven", the King James Bible, and the Linux kernel alleging that these things violate Bad Apple's copyright.
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For context, GitHub's DMCA form has this assertion:
> I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in this notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner, or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
correct, here's the statute:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/512#:~:text=%283%...
> (v) A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
>
> (vi) A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.