If something here is yours.

Designated agent.

The agent registered with the U.S. Copyright Office to receive DMCA notices for Holler:

Copyright Office registration: DMCA-1072738. Email is the preferred channel and the fastest route to a response. Postal notices are accepted at the address above.

A note before you write.

Most of what is posted on Holler is short and factual: a business name, a time window, a storefront address, a one line “we have extra croissants today.” Facts are not copyrightable. The same factual listing can appear on multiple sites without infringing anything.

What can be copyrightable: photos businesses upload, original prose in a holler, posters or graphics, per-business page bios. If your concern is one of those, a DMCA notice is the right tool.

What your notice needs.

Per 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3), a notice must include all of the following:

1. A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or an authorized agent.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed.
3. Identification of the material on Holler that is claimed to be infringing, with a brief description. The URL is the simplest pointer.
4. Your contact information: full name, address, phone, email.
5. A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
6. A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the owner's behalf.

A notice missing any of these may be ignored. Not because we want to be picky. These six elements are what makes a DMCA notice work.

What happens next.

When we receive a valid notice:

1. We acknowledge receipt within 5 business days.
2. We review the claim. If it is valid on its face, we take the material down. Usually within a few days of acknowledgement, faster for clear cases.
3. We notify the business or contributor whose material was removed and forward your notice (with your contact info) so they can respond.
4. We log the takedown internally for our repeat-infringer policy.

Counter-notice.

If your material was taken down and you believe in good faith that the takedown was a mistake (you hold rights, fair use applies, etc.), you can send a counter-notice to [email protected] with:

1. Your physical or electronic signature.
2. Identification of the removed material and where it appeared.
3. A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief the material was removed by mistake or misidentification.
4. Your name, address, phone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (or your judicial district if you are outside the U.S.), and that you will accept service of process from the original complainant.

We forward the counter-notice to the original complainant. If they do not file an action seeking a court order against you within 10 to 14 business days, we restore the material.

Repeat infringers.

We terminate accounts of contributors found to be repeat infringers. The threshold is roughly three strikes. Three substantiated DMCA takedowns against the same account trigger termination. Egregious single cases (large-scale infringement, blatant bad faith) can trigger termination immediately.

Bad-faith notices.

Filing a knowingly false DMCA notice is a federal offense under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f). We reserve the right to seek costs and damages from senders of bad-faith notices, and we cooperate with contributors who pursue § 512(f) claims of their own.

We are not running a clearinghouse for competitive sabotage. If your “notice” is really an attempt to suppress speech, criticism, or a competitor, we will see it and decline.

Contact.

[email protected] for DMCA notices and counter-notices.

[email protected] for everything else.