Open Humans Copyright Policy

This policy explains how Open Humans responds to claims of unauthorized use of copyrighted text, images or links to allegedly infringing materials under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”).

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Section 512 of the DMCA lays out the legal requirements to formally report copyright infringement to a service provider like Open Humans. It also explains how the person who posted the disputed content can oppose a notice of alleged infringement by submitting a counter-notice.

First and Foremost: Do You Have Rights in a Copyrighted Work?

Remember that sending a copyright notice or counter-notice can have serious consequences, since the DMCA imposes legal and financial penalties for making fraudulent or bad-faith claims. It’s important that you make sure you’re the actual copyright holder or that you’ve been authorized to act on a rights holder’s behalf before submitting a takedown notice.

How To Submit a Copyright Notice

To send us a notice about copyright infringement, you’ll need to provide us the following information:

1. A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act on their behalf (typing your full name will do);
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed (e.g., a copy of or link to your original work or clear description of the materials allegedly being infringed);
3. Identification of the infringing material and information reasonably sufficient to permit Open Humans to locate the material on our services (e.g., a link to the infringing post);
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.

You can report alleged copyright infringement by emailing the above information to dmca@openhumans.org.

You can also mail a copyright notice to:

Designated Copyright Agent
Open Humans Foundation
423 Brookline Avenue #323
Boston, MA 02115

How Open Humans Responds to Copyright Claims

In response to a complete, properly submitted notice of alleged copyright infringement, we may remove or restrict access to the allegedly infringing material. If we do so, it’s our policy to make a good-faith effort to notify the affected account holder.

When You Hear From Open Humans About a DMCA Notice

If we send you a message saying we’ve received a DMCA notice about content you’ve posted on Open Humans, please read it carefully. It will contain information about the nature of the takedown notice and your options.

How to File a Counter-Notice

If you receive a DMCA notification about content you’ve posted and you believe that material was misidentified or removed in error, you can file a counter-notice by following the instructions below.

To submit a counter-notice, please send us the following information:

1. A physical or electronic signature (typing your full name will do);
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 DMCA notice is enough);
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 your address is located, or if your address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which Open Humans may be found, and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided the copyright notification or an agent of such person.

To submit a counter-notice, please respond to our original message letting you know about the removal and include the above information in the body of your reply.

Note: If you re-post material removed in response to a DMCA notification, we may permanently suspend your account. If you believe content was removed in error, please consider filing a counter-notice instead of re-posting the material.

After You Submit a Counter-Notice

When we receive a valid counter-notice, we’ll promptly forward a copy to the person who sent us the DMCA notice. If we aren’t notified within 10 business days that the original reporter is seeking a court order to prevent further infringement of the material, we may replace or cease disabling access to the material that was removed.

Repeat Infringer Policy

Open Humans has a policy that provides for the termination in appropriate circumstances of account holders who are repeat infringers.