Copyright Infringement Policy
BitTorrent respects copyright law and expects its users to do the same. In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), the text of which may be found on the U.S. Copyright Office web site at http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf , BitTorrent will respond expeditiously to notices of alleged copyright infringement that are reported to BitTorrent’s Designated Copyright Agent, identified in the sample Notice below.
If you are a copyright owner, authorized to act on behalf of one, or authorized to act under any exclusive right under copyright, please report alleged copyright infringements taking place on or through the Sites by completing the following notice (“Notice”) and delivering it to the Designated Copyright Agent.
DMCA Notice of Alleged Infringement (“Notice”)
Identify the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed, or—if multiple copyrighted works are covered by this Notice—you may provide a representative list of the copyrighted works that you claim have been infringed.
Identify the material or link you claim is infringing and provide a description of where the infringing work is located on the applicable Site. For allegedly infringing content posted directly on the BitTorrent Sites, you must include, at a minimum, the URL or other location where that material may be found, or where a Torrent File pointing to that material may be found. For allegedly infringing results found via a BitTorrent™ search engine, you must provide (a) the search query that you used and (b) the URL for each search result that points to allegedly infringing material. For example, if you searched on the term, “BitTorrent” and found that one or more of the results directly linked to a web page or file that you believed to be infringing, then you would provide the following information:
- Search Query: BitTorrent
- Infringing Web Pages: www.directory.bittorrent.com/filename.torrent
Provide your mailing address, telephone number, and, if available, email address.
Include both of the following statements in the body of the Notice:
- “I hereby state that I have a good faith belief that the disputed use of the copyrighted material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law (e.g., fair use).”
- “I hereby state that the information in this Notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that I am the owner, or authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of the copyright or of an exclusive right under the copyright that is allegedly infringed.”
If the material originates from another web site and you believe that BitTorrent has cached that material, then confirm and check all that apply:
- The material has been removed from the originating site.
- Access to the material on the originating site has been disabled.
- A court has ordered that the material be removed from the originating site.
- A court has ordered that access to the material on the originating site be disabled.
Provide your full legal name and your electronic or physical signature.
Deliver this Notice, with all items completed, to BitTorrent’s Designated Copyright Agent:
Ron Gross, Copyright Agent
BitTorrent, Inc.
201 Mission St. Suite 900
San Francisco, California 94105
copyright@bittorrent.com
While BitTorrent considers all such notices seriously, you may be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys’ fees) if you materially misrepresent that material or activity is infringing. For example, a recent case ordered a company that sent infringement notification seeking removal of online materials that were protected by copyright’s fair use doctrine to pay such costs and attorneys’ fees. The company agreed to pay over $100,000. For more information, please see http://www.onlinepolicy.org/action/legpolicy/opg_v_diebold/. Accordingly, if you are uncertain whether material infringes your copyright, you may want to seek the advice of an attorney.
BitTorrent does not permit copyright infringing activities on its websites and will, if properly notified that files infringe a copyright, remove or disable access to such files. If the allegedly infringing material is referenced by a link or torrent file displayed through the search engine, BitTorrent may block its search engine from returning that link or torrent file. Because the BitTorrent search technology is automated, however, such links could potentially reappear after BitTorrent has removed them. BitTorrent, therefore, recommends that if you are sending a Notice with regard to BitTorrent search engine results, you should also send a notice, if possible, to the website displaying the allegedly infringing material.
BitTorrent reserves the right to remove or disable access to files or links to allegedly infringing material without prior notice.
Repeat Infringers
Not all BitTorrent services limit their usage to registered users or other account holders. For services that do, BitTorrent will terminate registered users or other account holders whom it determines to be repeat infringers. If you believe that a registered user or other account holder is an infringer, please follow the instructions above to contact BitTorrent’s Designated Copyright Agent and provide information sufficient for BitTorrent to verify that the registered user or other account holder is an infringer.
Subpoenas
BitTorrent may be required to disclose information to individuals asserting rights under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act or other intellectual property laws. You authorize BitTorrent to release information about you if required by law or subpoena without notice to you.