The remedy isn’t (currently) to punish the issuer. It’s to file a counter notice. I’ve been through this process against Meta. It sucked, and killed my project’s early momentum. But it was restored within a week or two after we filed.
It may seem like this system isn’t fair. It certainly isn’t. But it’s the best we have, because the system was not designed for the modern era. https://youtu.be/1Jwo5qc78QU?si=sZS6s53w4mZrJ3Vk
It’s lucky we even have a recourse like filing a counter notice.
I’ve wanted to make a non profit that offers up counter notices as a service. Basically, let people donate, and whenever someone’s project (like this unfortunate web browser) gets issued a DMCA claim, they’d be able to get a counter notice drafted and filed. It’s not cheap to hire a lawyer to do it, but you pretty much have to, which was the most unfair part. The companies filing the takedowns have lots of resources, but the targets often have substantially none.
That idea is probably too much work, but someone should do it. We need an organization to go to bat for creators. Or at least an organization that gives the creator enough legal rope to hang themselves if the entity making the claim decides to file a lawsuit, which is sometimes a real possibility. But the creator should get to decide whether to take on that risk without having to pay thousands of dollars first.