Copyright & intellectual-property complaints

Version 2.0 · Last updated: 2026-06-05

VitaminDB respects intellectual property and responds promptly to properly formed notices under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512), the EU Copyright Directive (2019/790), Articles 16–17 of the EU Digital Services Act (Regulation 2022/2065), §512 of the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and equivalent laws of other jurisdictions where we operate.

Table of contents

1. Designated agent
2. What a valid DMCA notice must include
3. Notice template
4. What happens after we receive a notice
5. Counter-notice
6. Counter-notice template
7. Misrepresentation warning
8. Repeat-infringer policy
9. Trademark and brand complaints
10. Right of publicity
11. EU DSA Art. 16 notices (illegal content)
12. Preservation requests
13. Reporting fraudulent notices

1. Designated agent

Send all copyright notices to our designated agent. We accept electronic notices in English, Portuguese, German, and French:

Email: [email protected]
Postal address: available on written request to that email; do not send notices to any other address.

2. What a valid DMCA notice must include

A notice that meets the requirements of 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3)(A) must contain:

1. A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or a person authorised to act on the owner’s behalf.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed (or a representative list, where multiple works are at issue at a single site).
3. Identification of the material on VitaminDB that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity, with sufficient information to allow us to locate it (provide the exact URL).
4. Sufficient contact information: full legal name, mailing address, telephone, email.
5. A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorised by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
6. A statement that the information in the notice is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorised to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Notices missing any of these elements are not actionable under the DMCA safe harbour and we may, at our discretion, ignore them, request additional information, or treat them as an EU DSA Art. 16 notice if the same content also qualifies as illegal under EU law.

3. Notice template

You may use the template below. The DMCA does not require any specific form, but using the template helps us act faster.

To: [email protected]
Subject: DMCA takedown notice — VitaminDB

1. Copyright owner / agent:
   Name:
   Title:
   Address:
   Phone:
   Email:

2. Description of the copyrighted work(s) infringed:
   Title:
   Type (article, image, dataset, code, etc.):
   Original location (URL where the work was first published, if applicable):
   Copyright registration number (if registered with the U.S. Copyright Office):

3. Location of the allegedly infringing material on VitaminDB:
   Full URL(s):
   Specific element(s) within the URL (paragraph, image filename, etc.):

4. Statement of good faith:
   I have a good-faith belief that the use of the material identified above in the manner
   complained of is not authorised by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.

5. Statement of accuracy:
   I declare under penalty of perjury that the information in this notice is accurate, and
   that I am the owner of the copyright described above, or am authorised to act on behalf
   of the owner.

6. Signature:
   _________________________
   Date:
   Place:

4. What happens after we receive a notice

• We send an acknowledgement of receipt within 3 working days.
• We assess the notice for formal validity and obvious bad faith.
• If valid, we remove or disable access to the content within a further 7 working days, in most cases sooner.
• We notify the user who submitted the content, including the full text of your notice (your name, address, email, and phone will be disclosed to that user, as required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(2)(A)).
• We log every takedown in our public moderation statistics on /transparency.
• If we receive a valid counter-notice, we restore the content unless you file a lawsuit and notify us within 10–14 business days.

5. Counter-notice

If your content was removed and you believe in good faith that the removal was due to a mistake or misidentification, you may submit a counter-notice to [email protected] containing the elements required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3):

1. Your physical or electronic signature.
2. Identification of the removed material and its prior location on VitaminDB.
3. A statement, under penalty of perjury, of good-faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification.
4. Your name, address, telephone, email.
5. Your consent to the jurisdiction of the U.S. Federal District Court for the district in which your address is located, or if outside the U.S., any judicial district in which VitaminDB may be found, and your agreement to accept service of process from the original complainant or its agent.

We forward valid counter-notices to the original complainant. If they do not file a lawsuit within 10 to 14 business days, we restore the content.

6. Counter-notice template

To: [email protected]
Subject: DMCA counter-notice — VitaminDB

1. Counter-notifier:
   Full name:
   Address:
   Phone:
   Email:

2. Removed material:
   URL(s) where the material previously appeared on VitaminDB:
   Brief description of the material:

3. Statement under penalty of perjury:
   I declare under penalty of perjury that I have a good-faith belief that the material
   was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification.

4. Consent to jurisdiction and service:
   I consent to the jurisdiction of the U.S. Federal District Court for the judicial
   district in which my address is located (or if outside the U.S., any judicial district
   in which VitaminDB may be found) and will accept service of process from the original
   complainant or its agent.

5. Signature:
   _________________________
   Date:
   Place:

7. Misrepresentation warning

Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), any person who knowingly materially misrepresentsthat material is infringing, or that material was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification, may be liable for any damages, including costs and attorneys’ fees, incurred by the alleged infringer, the copyright owner, or its licensee, and by the service provider, who is injured by such misrepresentation. Do not send a DMCA notice for content for which you do not own or control the rights or which is plainly a fair-use, quotation, criticism, parody, review, or news-reporting use.

8. Repeat-infringer policy

In accordance with 17 U.S.C. § 512(i), we have adopted and reasonably implemented a policy that provides for the termination, in appropriate circumstances, of users who are repeat copyright infringers. The graduated enforcement levels in our community guidelines (L1–L4) apply: three substantiated copyright complaints within 12 months lead to a permanent ban (L4).

9. Trademark and brand complaints

We respect registered trademarks. To report a trademark misuse on the Service, send a written notice to [email protected] containing:

1. Identification of the trademark, the registration number, the jurisdictions of registration, and the classes of goods/services covered.
2. The full URL where the alleged misuse appears on VitaminDB.
3. The specific element that is alleged to infringe (text quotation, logo use, domain in URL slug, etc.).
4. Your relationship to the rights holder and your contact details.
5. A clear statement of why the use does not qualify as fair use, nominative fair use, comparative advertising under EU Directive 2006/114/EC, or other lawful use.

Nominative-fair-use of a brand name on a comparison site is generally permitted (see e.g. New Kids on the Block v. News America Publishing, 971 F.2d 302 (9th Cir. 1992)) and Section 12 of the EU Trademark Regulation 2017/1001. We will not remove editorial references to brand names where they are used to identify the actual subject of comparison.

10. Right of publicity

If you believe your name, image, voice, likeness, signature, or other identifying feature has been used without your consent in a manner that violates your right of publicity (e.g. under New York Civil Rights Law §§50–51, California Civil Code §3344, or equivalent right-of-personality protections in EU member states), email [email protected] with the URL, the element, evidence that the feature is yours, and a statement of why the use is not exempt (e.g. not news reporting, public interest, transformative use).

11. EU DSA Art. 16 notices (illegal content)

Under EU Regulation 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act) Article 16, any person may submit a notice of illegal content (not limited to copyright). Use [email protected] with:

1. A reasoned explanation of the alleged illegality (which law of which member state).
2. The exact URL on VitaminDB.
3. Your name and email (anonymity is permitted only for notices involving Art. 7 of the EU Charter, e.g. child sexual abuse material).
4. A statement of good faith and accuracy.

We send a confirmation within 3 working days, a decision with a statement of reasons under DSA Art. 17, and information about the available out-of-court dispute-settlement bodies and judicial remedies as required by DSA Art. 17(3) and 21.

12. Preservation requests

Law enforcement preservation requests under 18 U.S.C. §2703(f) or an EU member-state equivalent are accepted at [email protected]. Preservation does not equal disclosure; disclosure of preserved content requires a further binding legal demand.

13. Reporting fraudulent notices

If you receive notification that content of yours was removed and you believe the original complainant is acting in bad faith, you may (a) file a counter-notice as above, and (b) report the bad-faith complainant to [email protected]. Repeated bad-faith complainants are barred from using our takedown channels and may face the misrepresentation liability described in Section 7.