> This reminds me of restaurants taking away their employees tips but saying "we're not forcing you to give up your tips, you'll just be fired if you try to keep them".
>
> Same thing.
Uh... no, this is wage theft, and it's a crime that will put you in jail.
In point of fact content sites refuse bogus takedown requests all the time. But where there's ambiguity they're clearly not going to stick their neck out for some rando app author.
You're also forgetting that without the DMCA, the safe harbor provision wouldn't exist and instead of frivolous takedown requests we'd be treated to weekly "Disney Sues Apple Again" news.