DMCA Policy

Welcome to Hookwell's Guide to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, commonly known as the "DMCA." This Site qualifies as a "Service Provider" within the meaning of 17 U.S.C. § 512(k)(1) of the DMCA. Accordingly, it is entitled to certain protections from claims of copyright infringement under the DMCA, commonly referred to as the "safe harbor" provisions. We respect the intellectual property of others and we ask our users to do the same.

Remember that your use of our Services is at all times subject to the Terms of Service, which incorporates this DMCA Takedown Policy. Capitalized terms used in this document and not defined herein shall have the meaning set forth in the Terms of Service (the "Terms" or "TOS") and in policies referenced by the TOS. If you're a rights-holder looking to issue a takedown notice, this page will hopefully help to lay out our policies for complying with it.

First, it should be noted that DMCA takedown notices are submitted under penalty of perjury under the terms of the DMCA. Thus, failing to be truthful in DMCA correspondence may result in personal liability. As with all legal matters, it is always best to consult with a professional about your specific questions or situation. We strongly encourage you to do so before taking any action that might impact your rights. This guide isn't legal advice and shouldn't be taken as such.

The address of our Designated Agent to receive notices and counter notices relating to DMCA Takedowns ("Designated Agent") is as provided below.

What is DMCA?

The DMCA creates a copyright liability safe harbor for internet service providers hosting allegedly infringing user Content. Essentially, so long as a service provider follows the DMCA's notice-and-takedown rules, the service provider won't be liable for copyright infringement . These protections are necessary to limit the liability of companies like us that host Content.

DMCA Notices

Filing a DMCA complaint is the start of a pre-defined legal process. The DMCA provides two procedures that all our users should know about:

(i) a takedown-notice procedure for copyright holders to request that content be removed; and (ii) a counter-notice procedure for users to have content restored when content is taken down by mistake.

DMCA takedown notices are used by copyright owners to ask us to remove Content from the Website or Services they believe to be infringing.

On the other hand, counter notices can be used to correct mistakes. Since we usually cannot know if there has been a mistake, the DMCA counter notice allows you to let us know and ask that we restore the removed content.

Procedure for Reporting Copyright Infringements

If you believe that the Content or material residing on or accessible through the Services infringes your copyright (or the copyright of someone whom you are authorized to act on behalf of), please send a notice of copyright infringement containing the following information to the Designated Agent:

A physical or electronic signature of the copyrighted work owner or person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright that has been allegedly infringed;
Identification of works or materials being infringed;
Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing including information regarding the location of the infringing materials (including the URL where this infringing content is available or a copy of it) that the copyright owner seeks to have removed, with sufficient detail so that we are capable of finding and verifying its existence;
Contact information about the notifier including address, telephone number and, if available, email address;
A statement that the notifier has a good faith belief that the material identified in 1(c) is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
A statement made under penalty of perjury that the information provided is accurate and the notifying party is authorized to make the complaint on behalf of the copyright owner.

You can read Copyright Law - 17 U.S.C 512(c)(3) for more information.

Designated Agent's responsibility upon receipt of Infringement Notice.

Any notice we receive will become effective only if it's complete, i.e., includes all information the DMCA requires, and we will review each Notice we receive for this purpose. If your Notice doesn't meet the DMCA in some way, we'll let you know we can't accept the Notice as provided. Acceptable Notices must include the requirements listed above.

If the Notice is complete, we then need to determine whether it isvalid. To do this, we'll review the copyrighted material to which your Notice relates. Sometimes we will find that a Notice is fraudulent, inaccurate or mistaken, or describes material as protected that can't really be protected, like a clearly fair use of copyrighted material, or material that clearly wasn't created by the person cited in the Notice. A particular use may be fair 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. Each use case is different and must be distinctly considered. In these cases, again, we will let the submitter (you) know that we can't accept the Notice as provided.

If the Notice is complete, and is also valid, we reserve the right to:

remove or disable access to the infringing material;
notify the content provider, member or user who is accused of infringement that we have removed or disabled access to the applicable material; and
terminate such content provider's, member's or user's access to the Services if he or she or it (as an entity) is a repeat offender.

Abuse Notification

Abusing the DMCA Notice procedures set forth above, or misrepresenting facts in a DMCA Notice or Counter-notification, can result in legal liability for damages, court costs and attorneys fees under federal law. See 17 U.S.C. § 512(f). These Notice and Takedown Procedures only apply to claims of copyright infringement by copyright holders and their agents – not to any other kind of abuse, infringement or legal claim. We will investigate and take action against anyone abusing the DMCA notification or counter-notification procedure. Please ensure that you meet all of the legal qualifications before submitting a DMCA Notice to our Designated Agent.

How to Submit Your Complaint

If you find content on our site that you feel infringes on your copyright you may file a DMCA Takedown Notice with us. This notice should be submitted via email to eyu@hookwell.co must be in English, and contain the following information:

your address, telephone number, and email address;
an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;
a description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed;
a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on our website, sufficient for RGE to locate the material;
a statement by you that you understand that under 17 U.S.C § 512(f) you may be liable for any damages, including costs and attorneys' fees, if you knowingly and materially misrepresent that reported material or activity is infringing;
a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
a statement by you that the information in your notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.

You may wish to consult an attorney prior to filing a DMCA Takedown Notice, as misrepresenting that material infringes on your copyright may subject you to liability for damages, including costs and attorneys' fees incurred by the user that submitted the content.

Designated Agent:

Please do not send other inquires or information to our Designated Agent. Absent prior express permission, our Designated Agent is not authorized to accept or waive service of formal legal process, and any agency relationship beyond that required to accept valid DMCA Notices is expressly disclaimed.

Modifications to Policy

We reserves the right to modify, alter or add to this policy, and all affected persons should regularly check back to stay current on any such changes.