Takedown policy

How takedown notices are handled

Notices from rights holders and their authorised representatives are actioned. A complete notice results in the listed addresses being removed from the index, from the category pages and from the sitemap on the same pass, and the removal is permanent unless the notice is later withdrawn by the party that filed it.

There is no negotiation stage and no requirement to argue a case first. A complete notice is enough, and the entry comes down. Incomplete notices are the only ones that stall, which is why the requirements below are set out in full rather than summarised.

A record of each notice is kept so that a re-listing of the same work can be caught on a later pass. That record holds the notice itself and nothing more.

What a notice must contain to be actionable

• The full name of the person filing the notice
• The rights holder, or the organisation the filer represents
• A contact address that correspondence can be sent to
• Identification of the specific work being claimed, not a product line
• The exact page addresses to be removed, one per line
• A statement of the filer's authority to act for the rights holder
• A statement, made in good faith, that the use is not authorised
• Confirmation that the information given in the notice is accurate

File a takedown notice

If something was removed in error

A removal made on a notice that turns out to have been filed in error can be reversed. Send the details through the contact page with the address that was removed and the grounds, and the original notice is checked against it.

Repeat notices that are filed without authority or that name works the filer has no relationship to are recorded and disregarded, and later notices from the same source are treated accordingly.