Copyright infringement and Takedown Policy (DMCA)
It is Simmons Multimedia’s policy to respond to clear notices of alleged copyright infringement. This page describes the information that should be present in these notices. It is designed to make submitting these notices of alleged infringement to Simmons Multimedia as straightforward as possible while reducing the number of notices that we receive that are fraudulent or difficult to understand or verify. The form of notice specified below is consistent with the form suggested by the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the text of which can be found at the U.S. Copyright Office Web Site, http://www.copyright.gov) but we will respond to notices of this form from other jurisdictions as well.
Regardless of whether we may be liable for such infringement under local country law or United States law, our response to these notices may include removing or disabling access to material claimed to be the subject of infringing activity and/or terminating subscribers. If we remove or disable access in response to such a notice, we will make a good-faith attempt to contact the owner or administrator of the affected site or content so that they may make a counter notification. We may also document notices of alleged infringement on which we act. Please note that in addition to being forwarded to the person who provided the allegedly infringing content, a copy of this legal notice may be sent to a third-party partner for publication and annotation. As such, your letter (with your personal information removed) may be forwarded to Chilling Effects (http://www.chillingeffects.org/) for publication.
Infringement notification
Counter notification
Account Termination
Infringement Notification
To file a notice of infringement with us, you must provide a written communication (by fax or regular mail — not by email, except by prior agreement) that sets forth the items specified below. Please note that you will be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys’ fees) if you materially misrepresent that a product or activity is infringing your copyrights. Indeed, in a recent case (please see http://www.onlinepolicy.org/action/legpolicy/opg_v_diebold/ for more information), a company that sent an infringement notification seeking removal of online materials that were protected by the fair use doctrine was ordered to pay such costs and attorneys fees.
The company agreed to pay over $100,000. Accordingly, if you are not sure whether material available online infringes your copyright, we suggest that you first contact an attorney.
To expedite our ability to process your request, please use the following format:
Identify in sufficient detail the copyrighted work that you believe has been infringed upon (for example, “The copyrighted work at issue is the text that appears on http://www.xyzwebsite.com/page.html”) or other information sufficient to specify the copyrighted work being infringed (for example, “The copyrighted work at issue is the This Famous Song by Artist XYZ, published by Great Records, ASIN #0123456789″).
Identify the material that you claim is infringing the copyrighted work listed in item #1 above. You must provide an accessible, Fully Qualified URL to the content in question. This content must reside on the Simmons Multimedia network. For example:
Infringing Web Page(s): http://www.domain.com/page.html
Provide information reasonably sufficient to permit Simmons Multimedia to contact you (email address is preferred).
Provide information, if possible, sufficient to permit Simmons Multimedia to notify the owner/administrator of the allegedly infringing webpage or other content (email address is preferred).
Include the following statement: “I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above as allegedly infringing is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.”
Include the following statement: “I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.”
Sign the paper and send the written communication to the following address:
Please note that a copy of each legal notice we receive is sent to a third-party partner for publication and annotation. As such, your letter (with your personal information removed) will be forwarded to Chilling Effects (http://www.chillingeffects.org) for publication.