Pushee Copyright Policy
What Types of Copyright Complaints Does Pushee Respond To?
You are responsible for your use of the Pushee Services and for any Content you provide, including compliance with applicable laws, rules, and regulations. You should only provide Content that you are authorized to share and are comfortable sharing with others.
Pushee responds to copyright infringement notifications submitted under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). Section 512 of the DMCA outlines the statutory requirements necessary for formally reporting copyright infringement, as well as providing instructions on how an affected party can appeal a removal by submitting a compliant counter-notice.
Pushee will respond to reports of alleged copyright infringement, such as allegations concerning the unauthorized use of a copyrighted image as a profile or header photo, allegations concerning the unauthorized use of a copyrighted video, audio recording or image uploaded through our media hosting services, or Pushee messages containing links to allegedly infringing materials. Note that not all unauthorized uses of copyrighted materials are infringements. Certain uses of copyrighted material may not require the copyright owner’s permission. In the United States, this concept is known as "fair use". Some other countries have a similar concept known as "fair dealing".
Whether or not a certain use of copyrighted material constitutes a fair use is ultimately determined by a court of law. Courts analyze fair use arguments by looking at four factors:
1. The purpose and character of the use.
• How is the original work being used, and is the new use commercial? Transformative uses add something to the original work: commentary, criticism, educational explanation or additional context are a few examples. Transformative, non-commercial uses are more likely to be considered fair use.
2. The nature of the copied work.
• What is the copied work itself? Is it factual (example: a record of a historical event) or fictional (example: a novel or Hollywood blockbuster)? Uses of fictional works are more likely to be protected.
3. The amount and substantiality of the copied work.
• How much of the work was copied? Short excerpts are more likely to be considered fair use than copies of entire copyrighted works, if the use meets other factors as well.
4. The effect on the copied work’s value.
• Will the copying harm the potential market for the copyrighted work by effectively creating a substitute or replacement for that work? If so, the use is probably not fair use.
Fair use determinations are made on a case by case basis, and there is no clear formula to determine whether a use may be found to be fair. If you are unsure whether a particular use of copyrighted work might be a fair use, you may want to seek legal advice. Pushee is unable to advise whether your use may be protected or not.
For more information on fair use:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_usehttps://ilt.eff.org/index.php/Copyright:_Fair_Usehttps://www.lumendatabase.org/http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/four-factors/If you are concerned about the use of your brand or entity’s name, please review Pushee’s
trademark policy.
To submit a notice of claimed copyright infringement, you will need to provide us with the following information:
1. A physical signature, or an electronic signature (typing your full name will suffice) of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act on their behalf;
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed (e.g., a link to your original work or clear description of the materials allegedly being infringed upon);
3. Identification of the infringing material and information sufficient to permit Pushee to locate the material on our Services;
4. Your contact information, including your address, telephone number, and an email address;
5. A statement that you have a good faith belief that the use of the material in the manner asserted is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
6. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.
Please be aware that under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), you may be liable for any damages, including costs and attorneys’ fees incurred by us or our users, if you knowingly materially misrepresent that material or activity is infringing, as was the case in
Lenz v. Universal and
OPG v. Diebold. If you are unsure whether the material you are reporting is in fact infringing, you may wish to contact an attorney before filing a notification with us.
How Do I File a Copyright Complaint?
You can report alleged copyright infringement by filing a copyright report. If you are using the Pushee app you can use the “Report” option available within each Channel and each Message.
You may also file a report online here.
Filing a DMCA complaint is the start of a pre-defined legal process. Your complaint will be reviewed for accuracy, validity, and completeness. If your complaint has satisfied these requirements, we will take action on your request - which includes forwarding a
full copy of your notice (including your name, address, phone and email address) to the user(s) who posted the allegedly infringing material in question.
How Are Claims Processed?
We process reports in the order in which they are received. Once you've submitted your complaint we will email you a confirmation. Please note, submitting duplicate copyright notices may result in a delay in processing.
If we decide to remove or disable access to the material, we will notify the affected user(s) after removing or disabling access to the material, provide them with a full copy of the reporter’s complaint (including the provided contact information) along with instructions on how to file a counter-notice.
In an effort to be as transparent as possible regarding the removal or restriction of access to user-posted content, we clearly mark withheld Pushee messages and media to indicate to users when content has been withheld (example below).
Under appropriate circumstances, Pushee may suspend and warn repeat violators, and in more serious cases, permanently terminate user accounts.
What Happens If I Receive a Copyright Notification?
If you receive a copyright notification, it means that the content described in the notification has been removed from Pushee or access to the content on Pushee has been restricted. Please take the time to read through our notice to you, which includes information on the notification we received as well as instructions on how to file a counter-notice.
When Should I File a Counter-notice?
If you believe that the material reported in the copyright notification you received was misidentified or removed in error, you should file a counter-notice as per the instructions below.
Re-posting material removed in response to a copyright notification may result in permanent account suspension. If you believe the content was removed in error, please file a counter-notification rather than simply re-posting the material.
What Information Do You Need to Process a Counter-notice?
To submit a counter-notice, you will need to provide us with the following information:
1. A physical or electronic signature (typing your full name will suffice);
2. Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled (the description from the copyright notice will suffice);
3. A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled; and
4. Your name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if your address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which Pushee may be found, and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.
To submit a counter-notice, please respond to our original email notification of the removal and include the required information in the body of your reply as we discard all attachments for security reasons.
What Happens After I Submit a Counter-notice?
Upon receipt of a valid counter-notice, we will promptly forward a copy to the person who filed the original notice. If we do not receive notice within 10 business days that the original reporter is seeking a court order to prevent further infringement of the material at issue, we may replace or cease disabling access to the material that was removed.
We cannot offer any legal advice. Should you have questions, please consult an attorney.
Filing a Copyright Notice or Counter-notice is Serious Business!
Please think twice before submitting a claim or counter-notice, especially if you are unsure whether you are the actual rights holder or authorized to act on a rights holder’s behalf. There are legal and financial consequences for fraudulent and/or bad faith submissions. Please be sure that you are the actual rights holder, or that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed in error, and that you understand the repercussions of submitting a false claim.
Updated May 1st, 2019
