The Digital Weekly respects the intellectual-property rights of others and expects users to do the same. This policy describes how copyright holders can request takedown of allegedly infringing content under the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA, 17 U.S.C. § 512) and analogous laws in other jurisdictions.
Designated copyright agent
For DMCA takedown notices and counter-notifications, contact our designated agent:
Copyright Agent — The Digital Weekly
Email: dmca@thedigitalweekly.com
Postal address: provided on request via legal@thedigitalweekly.com
Subject line: DMCA Notice (or DMCA Counter-Notification)
Our designated agent is registered with the United States Copyright Office under the DMCA online directory.
What constitutes infringement
Copyright infringement occurs when copyrighted material is used in a way that exceeds the rights granted to the user (no license, no fair use, no statutory exception). Common examples on a publication like ours:
- Republishing an article from another publication in full without permission
- Using a photograph without license from the photographer or photo agency
- Embedding a video that the embedder doesn’t have rights to redistribute
- Quoting more than fair-use limits without permission
Fair use (US) and fair dealing (UK / Commonwealth) permit limited use of copyrighted material for purposes like criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Determining fair use is fact-specific and requires consideration of:
- The purpose and character of the use (commercial vs. nonprofit, transformative vs. mere copying)
- The nature of the copyrighted work
- The amount and substantiality of the portion used
- The effect on the potential market for the work
Substantive editorial commentary and criticism that includes brief excerpts is generally fair use. Routine republication of articles is generally not.
How to file a takedown notice
To file a valid DMCA notice, send an email to dmca@thedigitalweekly.com containing all of the following:
- Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed (title, original URL, registration number if registered, description)
- Identification of the allegedly infringing material — the exact URL(s) on our site where the material appears
- Your contact information: full legal name, postal address, telephone number, and email address
- A statement of good-faith belief: “I have a good-faith belief that the use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.“
- A statement under penalty of perjury: “The information in this notice is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.“
- Your physical or electronic signature (typed full name in an email is acceptable as an electronic signature)
Incomplete notices may be rejected or delayed. Misrepresentations in a DMCA notice are subject to legal liability under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f); a copyright owner who knowingly misrepresents that material is infringing may be liable for damages including the costs of restoring the wrongly-removed content.
What happens after we receive your notice
- Receipt acknowledgment within 24–48 hours
- Initial review for completeness — incomplete notices result in a request for the missing information
- Removal or disabling of the allegedly infringing material if the notice appears facially valid (typically within 1–3 business days of complete notice)
- Notification to the user who posted the material (where applicable), with a copy of the takedown notice
- Documentation of the takedown in our records as required by law
We typically do not pre-judge the legal merits — we act on facially-valid notices and let the parties resolve the underlying dispute. The user who posted the material has the right to submit a counter-notification (see below).
Counter-notification
If you believe material on our site was removed in error, you may submit a counter-notification. Send to dmca@thedigitalweekly.com with all of the following:
- Identification of the material that was removed and the URL where it appeared before removal
- A statement under penalty of perjury: “I have a good-faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification.“
- Your contact information: full legal name, address, telephone number, email
- Consent to jurisdiction: “I consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which my address is located, or, if outside the United States, the federal district where The Digital Weekly may be found, and accept service of process from the person who provided the takedown notice or an agent of that person.“
- Your physical or electronic signature
After we receive a valid counter-notification, we forward it to the party who submitted the takedown. If the takedown party does not initiate legal action within 10–14 business days, we generally restore the removed material.
Repeat infringer policy
In accordance with 17 U.S.C. § 512(i), we terminate the accounts of users who are repeat infringers. We maintain records of takedown notices and counter-notifications, and use those records to identify patterns of infringement.
Trademark and right-of-publicity claims
The DMCA covers copyright. For trademark concerns, right-of-publicity issues, or other intellectual-property matters, contact legal@thedigitalweekly.com. These claims follow different procedures and we evaluate them separately.
For non-US copyright issues
If you are outside the United States, we comply with valid takedown requests under analogous regimes:
- EU Copyright Directive (Directive 2019/790)
- UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
- Canada Copyright Act
- Australia Copyright Act 1968
- Other applicable national copyright laws
Send equivalent notices to the same address (dmca@thedigitalweekly.com) with details satisfying the requirements of your applicable law.
Bad-faith filings
We reserve the right to refuse to process notices that appear to be filed in bad faith — for example, attempts to censor critical journalism, takedowns based on assertions of copyright over uncopyrightable material (facts, ideas, public-domain works), or repeated abuse of the DMCA process. We may publish details of bad-faith notices and report them to Lumen Database.
Newsroom protection
The DMCA is sometimes misused to suppress journalism. We resist takedown requests that are obvious attempts at editorial censorship rather than genuine copyright enforcement. If you are a journalist or source and have received a takedown threat related to coverage of you, contact editors@thedigitalweekly.com.
Contact
DMCA notices and counter-notifications: dmca@thedigitalweekly.com
Other intellectual-property matters: legal@thedigitalweekly.com