A copyright notice identifies your work, the material you want removed, and your authority to make the claim. This article explains the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) process. The Terms of Use govern copyright notices and counter-notices on Kurodyne.
You can send a copyright notice if you own the rights in the copied material or are authorized to act for the owner, and you believe the use is unauthorized. You don't need a US copyright registration or a lawyer to send the notice. The US Copyright Office's takedown guidance(opens in a new tab) explains who can submit one.
Identify the work that was copied, such as your original code, artwork, or written instructions. US copyright protects original expression; it doesn't protect an idea, method, or system. Another product solving the same problem isn't enough, by itself, to establish a copyright claim. See the US Copyright Office's copyright overview(opens in a new tab).
Check what permission the other person already has. The Kurodyne Commercial License allows buyers to use a product in commercial projects and distribute permitted finished work. For example, a buyer may use your website starter to deliver a finished client website. Offering your starter's reusable source as their own downloadable product breaks the Commercial License restrictions on redistribution. Third-party components keep their own licenses, so identify your material separately from code or assets you both obtained elsewhere.
Before making the notice's good-faith statement, account for uses the law permits, including fair use under US law(opens in a new tab). Fair use depends on the circumstances; there is no fixed percentage of a work that always makes copying lawful.
Send a copyright notice to the service hosting the copy. For a copy listed or uploaded on Kurodyne, prepare the notice under the copyright notice procedure in the Terms of Use and email it to the address given there. For a copy on another service, Where do I send a notice about another service? explains how to find its channel.
Before sending, collect enough detail to identify both works and explain the copying:
- Save your original files, source history, dated drafts, and records of publication or ownership.
- Record the exact URLs of each reported listing, page, or hosted file. Include a release label or filename when it helps locate the material.
- Save screenshots and note when you captured them. Point to the matching text, images, or code, rather than describing the entire product as similar.
- Keep the relevant licenses and permissions, including any permission you gave the other person.
Describe what you can verify. If you have seen only the listing or preview, say which visible material was copied. Keep a copy of the notice and the host's replies with your evidence.
A DMCA notice needs identification of the work and the reported material, contact details, two statements, and a signature. For Kurodyne, include each item required by the Terms' copyright notice procedure:
- The copyrighted work: Identify the original work you claim was copied. A representative list can cover multiple works on the same service.
- The reported material: Identify what you want removed and give the exact URLs or other information needed to locate it. Explain which parts copy your work.
- Your contact details: Give your name, mailing address, phone number, and email address.
- Your good-faith statement: State that you have a good-faith belief that the disputed use isn't authorized by the copyright owner, the owner's agent, or the law.
- Your accuracy and authority statement: State that the notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act for the copyright owner.
- Your signature: Include your physical or electronic signature as the owner or authorized representative.
Kurodyne may share your notice and relevant supporting information, including your contact details, with the user whose material is affected, as described in the Privacy Policy's section on sharing for legal reasons.
The US Copyright Office's sample notice(opens in a new tab) provides a form you can complete. Screenshots, files, and other evidence can support your notice, but they don't replace the required statements, contact details, or signature.
Send the notice through the hosting service's published copyright-reporting channel. Look for its copyright or DMCA policy in its terms or help center, and use the form or agent contact it names. For a service with a registered US agent, the US Copyright Office's DMCA Designated Agent Directory(opens in a new tab) provides a way to find that contact.
If a listing and the downloadable copy are on different services, identify the material each service hosts and report it to that service. Kurodyne can't remove files hosted elsewhere.
The DMCA is a US process. A service outside the United States may accept DMCA notices or use a different local procedure. Follow its published instructions; sending a notice doesn't guarantee removal. The Copyright Office's guidance for overseas hosts(opens in a new tab) explains these limits.
After a valid notice, a host that follows the DMCA process removes or disables access to the reported material and notifies the person who uploaded it, who can then send a counter-notice. On Kurodyne, the Terms of Use apply this process, and Kurodyne terminates the accounts of repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances.
A takedown isn't a court decision on ownership or infringement. Keep the evidence behind your claim even if the reported page becomes unavailable.
A counter-notice is the uploader's formal claim that the material was removed because of a mistake or misidentification, with a request to restore access. For example, the uploader may believe they have a license that permits the use.
It includes the uploader's signature, the removed material and its former location, contact details, a statement under penalty of perjury about the mistake, consent to the required federal court's jurisdiction, and agreement to accept service of legal papers from the original claimant or their agent. The Terms' counter-notice requirements give the full wording and the rule for uploaders outside the United States. They also identify where to send a counter-notice about material removed from Kurodyne.
The counter-notice is shared with the original claimant, including its required contact details. It isn't a private appeal to the host. The US Copyright Office's sample counter-notice(opens in a new tab) shows the statements involved.
Knowingly making a material false claim in a notice or counter-notice can create liability for damages, costs, and attorneys' fees under 17 USC section 512(f)(opens in a new tab).
The host restores the reported material 10 to 14 business days after it receives a valid counter-notice, unless you first tell it that you have filed a court action seeking an order to restrain the allegedly infringing activity. Both 17 USC section 512(g)(opens in a new tab) and the Kurodyne Terms set this window, which runs from the host's receipt of the counter-notice, not from when you read its email.
Disagreeing with the counter-notice or saying you intend to sue doesn't stop restoration. For a US work, the copyright must be registered before you can file that court action, as the Copyright Office's takedown FAQ(opens in a new tab) explains. Review the counter-notice and your evidence promptly, because the window is short.
Follow up through the host's copyright-reporting channel with your original notice, the exact URLs, and any report reference. Check that the notice includes all required information and that the URLs identify the material you reported. Review any reply for a request for missing details or a counter-notice. If the material returned after a counter-notice, What happens if I receive a counter-notice? explains your options.
If the material appears at a new URL, record that location and report it to the service hosting it. For a copy on Kurodyne, send the details to the notice address in the Terms' copyright notice procedure.