DMCA & Copyright

How copyright owners get infringing content removed from AI Feeders, how uploaders respond, and how repeat infringement ends accounts.

DRAFT — must be reviewed by a qualified lawyer before launch.

Plain-language summary

• If someone posted your copyrighted work on AI Feeders without permission, send us a takedown notice with the six required elements below; we remove valid targets quickly.
• The uploader always gets told what was removed and why, with a full copy of the notice.
• Uploaders who believe the removal was a mistake can file a counter-notice; unless the complainant sues within 10 business days, we restore the content within 10 to 14 business days.
• Lying in a notice or counter-notice has real legal consequences under US law — you can be made to pay damages and legal fees.
• Three valid copyright strikes within twelve months and the account is terminated. We enforce this, not just write it.
• We honor equivalent, properly substantiated copyright complaints from outside the US too.
• Before launch we must register our designated agent with the US Copyright Office — it costs 6 US dollars online and renews every three years.

Document status: Draft 1.0 (2026-06-12). The effective date is assigned when this document is published at aifeders.com/dmca on launch day.

1. Safe-harbor statement

AI Feeders is a hosting service for user-uploaded content. We comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512, and intend to qualify for its safe-harbor protections: we respond expeditiously to valid takedown notices, we do not interfere with standard technical measures, we have and enforce a repeat-infringer termination policy (Section 7), and we have designated an agent to receive copyright notices (Section 2). We do not — and as a practical matter cannot — pre-screen every uploaded file for copyright status; the notice-and-takedown process below is the mechanism Congress designed for exactly this situation, and it is the fastest way to get infringing material removed.

This policy is incorporated into the Terms of Service. Nothing in it is legal advice; copyright owners and uploaders should consult their own counsel.

2. Designated agent

Pre-launch requirement — launch-checklist item: before launch the Operator must register this designated agent in the US Copyright Office's online DMCA directory at dmca.copyright.gov. The registration is online-only, costs 6 US dollars, and must be renewed every 3 years — both the initial registration and a renewal reminder belong in ../09-build-plan/03-launch-checklist.md. A foreign (non-US) operator can and should register: the safe harbor is what shields the Service in US courts, and the registered name and postal address must then be mirrored in the table above.

3. Filing a takedown notice — the six required elements

Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3), a valid takedown notice must include all six of the following. Use this as a checklist — notices missing required elements may be rejected with a request to complete them:

• [ ] 1. Signature. A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act on the owner's behalf. Typing your full legal name in the form's signature field counts as an electronic signature.
• [ ] 2. Identification of the copyrighted work. What work of yours was infringed — title, description, and where the original can be seen (a URL, a registration number, or an attached copy). One notice may cover multiple works on the Service with a representative list.
• [ ] 3. Identification and location of the infringing material. The exact AI Feeders URL of each infringing item — for skills, the aifeders.com/skill/... listing URL, plus the specific file path inside the package if only part of it infringes.
• [ ] 4. Your contact information. Name, postal address, telephone number, and email address.
• [ ] 5. Good-faith statement. A statement that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
• [ ] 6. Accuracy statement under penalty of perjury. A statement that the information in the notice is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the owner's behalf.

Notices go to dmca@aifeders.com or through the form below. Before filing, consider whether the use might be a fair use or licensed — Sections 9 and 10 explain the cost of getting this wrong.

4. Submission form fields

The /dmca web form collects exactly the elements above:

The form is rate-limited and protected by Turnstile like every public form on the Service. Submissions create a tracked case with a reference number, returned to you by email.

5. What happens on a valid notice

1. Review. We check the notice for the six elements, normally within 2 business days of receipt.
2. Expeditious removal. If the notice is valid on its face, we expeditiously remove or disable access to the identified material — the listing is unpublished and its files stop being downloadable. We do not adjudicate ownership disputes; facially valid notices are actioned.
3. Uploader notified with a copy. We promptly notify the uploader that the material was removed, including a full copy of the takedown notice (the complainant's name and the claims are part of the legal process; submitting a notice means accepting that it is forwarded). The notification explains the counter-notice option and the copyright strike applied.
4. Strike recorded. A copyright strike is recorded against the uploader's account per Section 7, and the notice is retained in our enforcement records.
5. Complainant confirmation. The complainant receives confirmation of the action taken and the case reference.

flowchart TD
  A["Notice received at dmca address or web form"] --> B["Check six required elements"]
  B -->|"incomplete"| C["Reply asking complainant to complete the notice"]
  B -->|"valid"| D["Expeditiously remove or disable the material"]
  D --> E["Notify uploader with full copy of notice and record copyright strike"]
  E --> F{"Counter-notice filed by uploader"}
  F -->|"no"| G["Material stays down and strike stands"]
  F -->|"yes and valid"| H["Forward counter-notice to complainant"]
  H --> I{"Complainant files court action within 10 business days"}
  I -->|"no"| J["Restore material in 10 to 14 business days and lift the strike"]
  I -->|"yes"| K["Material stays down pending the court outcome"]

6. Counter-notices and restoration

If your content was removed and you believe the removal was a mistake or misidentification (for example, you hold a license, you are the actual author, or the use is lawful), you may file a counter-notice under 17 U.S.C. § 512(g). A valid counter-notice must include:

• [ ] 1. Your physical or electronic signature.
• [ ] 2. Identification of the material removed and the location where it appeared before removal (the listing URL).
• [ ] 3. A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief the material was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification.
• [ ] 4. Your name, postal address, and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the US federal district court for your address (or, if outside the United States, any judicial district in which AI Feeders may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the person who filed the original notice or their agent.

Send counter-notices to dmca@aifeders.com with your case reference. On receiving a valid counter-notice we:

1. Forward it promptly to the original complainant, telling them the material will be restored unless they act.
2. Restore the material no sooner than 10 and no later than 14 business days after forwarding, unless the complainant notifies us within 10 business days that they have filed a court action seeking to restrain the alleged infringement.
3. Lift the associated copyright strike if the material is restored.

Filing a counter-notice is a legal act with real consequences — it shares your contact details with the complainant and consents to court jurisdiction. Do not file one unless you genuinely believe the removal was wrong.

7. Repeat-infringer policy

Safe harbor requires not just having this policy but enforcing it, and we do:

• Each facially valid takedown notice that results in removal places one copyright strike on the uploader's account. Copyright strikes live inside the standard strikes system described in the Content & Acceptable Use Policy and ../06-admin/02-moderation-system.md, but follow their own counting rule.
• Three valid copyright strikes within twelve months terminate the account, in appropriate circumstances even sooner for flagrant cases (for example, an account that exists solely to re-upload others' paid products).
• Strikes lifted by a successful counter-notice or a successful appeal do not count.
• We keep records of all notices, counter-notices, strikes, and terminations, retained per the schedule in the Privacy Policy, so enforcement is documented and auditable.
• Re-registering to evade a copyright termination violates the Terms of Service and results in immediate termination of the new account.

8. Timeline at a glance

9. Before you file — common mistakes

For complainants:

• Owning a similar idea is not owning the work. Copyright protects expression — the actual prompt text, code, images — not the concept of "an invoice-extraction skill". Notices claiming a concept are rejected.
• Identify our URL, not just yours. Element 3 requires the exact aifeders.com/skill/... address. "Somewhere on your site" is not actionable.
• Licenses you granted still count. If the uploader holds a valid license (including an open-source license you released the work under), the use is authorized — check before swearing the good-faith statement.
• Trademark is not copyright. A listing misusing your brand name goes to legal@aifeders.com under Section 12, not through this form.

For uploaders considering a counter-notice:

• A counter-notice is sworn under penalty of perjury and consents to US court jurisdiction — it is not a "disagree" button.
• "I found it publicly on the internet" is not a license. "I wrote it" or "the license permits my use" is the standard.
• If you simply made a mistake, accept the removal; the strike expires from the repeat-infringer count after twelve months, and one strike alone has no other effect on your account.

We act as an intermediary in this process: we verify that notices and counter-notices are formally complete and act on them as § 512 prescribes, but we do not judge who actually owns the work — that question belongs to the parties and, if necessary, a court.

10. Misrepresentation warning — 17 U.S.C. § 512(f)

Under § 512(f), anyone who knowingly materially misrepresents that material is infringing (in a notice) or that it was removed by mistake (in a counter-notice) is liable for damages — including costs and attorneys' fees — incurred by the alleged infringer, the copyright owner, or the service provider as a result of the misrepresentation. Do not use the DMCA process to attack competitors, remove criticism, or harass creators. Abusive notices may also be disregarded, and abusive notifiers may have future notices deprioritized and their conduct treated under the bad-faith-report rule in the Content & Acceptable Use Policy.

11. Non-US copyright complaints

The DMCA is a US statute, but AI Feeders serves users globally and we honor equivalent, properly substantiated copyright complaints from any jurisdiction. A non-US complaint should contain the same substance as Section 3: who you are, what work you own, where the infringing copy is on our Service, a good-faith statement, and a declaration that the complaint is accurate and that you are entitled to act. EU users may also use the Report button — our notice-and-action mechanism under Article 16 of the EU Digital Services Act — and will receive a statement of reasons for the outcome either way. Complaints under other regimes (for example, trademark complaints or Pakistan's copyright ordinance) go to legal@aifeders.com and are assessed case by case.

12. Trademark and other IP complaints

This policy covers copyright. Trademark complaints (a listing or username impersonating a brand), trade-secret claims, and other IP issues go to legal@aifeders.com with evidence of your rights; impersonation is also independently prohibited by the Content & Acceptable Use Policy.

13. Records and transparency

We log every notice, counter-notice, action, and strike in the moderation audit log (retention: per the Privacy Policy). Aggregate counts of copyright actions may be published periodically once volumes justify it.

14. Contact

• Takedown notices and counter-notices: dmca@aifeders.com or the /dmca form
• Other IP complaints: legal@aifeders.com
• Designated agent postal address: per the US Copyright Office registration, mirrored in Section 2 at launch.