Presumably, Takedown Piracy LLC and their client would have to have signed the Sworn Statements on Google's DMCA page [0]:
I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted
materials described above as allegedly infringing is not
authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
The information in this notification is accurate and I
swear, under penalty of perjury, that I am the copyright
owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an
exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
Is there any recourse or punishment for falsely submitting a DMCA takedown request for content that is actually not under their copyright?
A lawyer could make quite a bundle by taking these lawsuits on commission, ambulance chasing / patent troll style.
After securing power of attorney from actual owner, mail form letters requesting immediate withdrawal of dmca and payment of a "small settlement" for the damages caused by it.
Heck, maybe the EFF could get a bunch of junior lawyers on this, it would likely pay by itself.
If enough of those tiny little shell companies get wrung out to bankruptcy, there won't be any left to act as fronts for this kind of unethical, and illegal, behavior. And, if they are acting on behalf of other companies, that would likely come out in the court proceedings...which could allow taking the suit up the chain to the actual parties who instigated it. One would hope, anyway, though IP law in the US behaves in deeply irrational ways sometimes.
> If enough of those tiny little shell companies get...
They are so easy to setup that you'll never win that race. It'll cost you in time and other resource every time, and you'll get nothing back, and while you are faffing around with one ten more companies are ready to go.
[0] https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/dmca-notice?rd=1