Guide to Submitting a DMCA Takedown Notice
This guide describes the information that toddle needs in order to process a DMCA takedown request. We answer how toddle processes DMCA takedown requests.
Before You Start
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A repository may include bits and pieces of code from many different people, but only one file or even a sub-routine within a file infringes your copyrights. -
Code mixes functionality with creative expression, but copyright only protects the expressive elements, not the parts that are functional. -
There are often licenses to consider. Just because a piece of code has a copyright notice does not necessarily mean that it is infringing. It is possible that the code is being used in accordance with an open-source license. -
A particular use may be fair-use if it only uses a small amount of copyrighted content, uses that content in a transformative way, uses it for educational purposes, or some combination of the above. Because code naturally lends itself to such uses, each use case is different and must be considered separately. -
Code may be alleged to infringe in many different ways, requiring detailed explanations and identifications of works.
Your Complaint Must ...
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Include the following statement: "I have read and understand toddle Guide to Filing a DMCA Notice." We won't refuse to process an otherwise complete complaint if you don't include this statement. But we'll know that you haven't read these guidelines and may ask you to go back and do so. -
Identify the copyrighted work you believe has been infringed. This information is important because it helps the affected user evaluate your claim and give them the ability to compare your work to theirs. The specificity of your identification will depend on the nature of the work you believe has been infringed. If you have published your work, you might be able to just link back to a web page where it lives. If it is proprietary and not published, you might describe it and explain that it is proprietary. If you have registered it with the Copyright Office, you should include the registration number. If you are alleging that the hosted content is a direct, literal copy of your work, you can also just explain that fact. -
Identify the material that you allege is infringing the copyrighted work listed in item #2, above. It is important to be as specific as possible in your identification. This identification needs to be reasonably sufficient to permit toddle to locate the material. At a minimum, this means that you should include the URL to the material allegedly infringing your copyright. If you allege that less than a whole repository infringes, identify the specific file(s) or line numbers within a file that you allege infringe. If you allege that all of the content at a URL infringes, please be explicit about that as well. -
Explain what the affected user would need to do in order to remedy the infringement. Again, specificity is important. When we pass your complaint along to the user, this will tell them what they need to do in order to avoid having the rest of their content disabled. Does the user just need to add a statement of attribution? Do they need to delete certain lines within their code, or entire files? Of course, we understand that in some cases, all of a user's content may be alleged to infringe and there's nothing they could do short of deleting it all. If that's the case, please make that clear as well. -
Provide your contact information. Include your email address, name, telephone number and physical address. -
Provide contact information, if you know it, for the alleged infringer. Usually this will be satisfied by providing the toddle username associated with the allegedly infringing content. But there may be cases where you have additional knowledge about the alleged infringer. If so, please share that information with us. -
Include the following statement: "I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above on the infringing web pages is not authorized by the copyright owner, or its agent, or the law. I have taken fair use into consideration." -
Also include the following statement: "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." -
Include your physical or electronic signature.
Complaints about Anti-Circumvention Technology
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What the technical measures are; -
How they effectively control access to the copyrighted material; and -
How the accused project is designed to circumvent their previously described technological protection measures.
How to Submit Your Complaint
Æblehaven 15A
2500 Valby, Denmark