Orphograph

Legal · Copyright

Copyright and DMCA policy.

1 · Distinction between code and brand

The Orphograph source code, including the protocol implementation and the standalone verifier, is published under the MIT License. Use, modification, and redistribution of the source code are permitted under those terms.

The Orphograph brand — including the wordmark, the seal device, the typographic lockup, the colour palette, the website design, the marketing copy, the seal and favicon images, and the receipt visual treatment — is not released under the MIT licence. All rights in the brand and content are reserved, except as the trademark notice may otherwise permit.

2 · Office of the designated agent

The office accepts notices of alleged copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512) at the following address:

Designated Agent — Orphograph
Email: [email protected]
Address: available on request through the email above

Formal registration of the designated agent with the United States Copyright Office is anticipated. Until that registration is effected, notices addressed to the email above will be received and processed.

3 · Filing a notice of infringement

A complete notice under 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3) must include the following:

  1. A physical or electronic signature of the owner of the copyright, or a person authorised to act on the owner's behalf.
  2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed.
  3. Identification of the material claimed to be infringing, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the office to locate the material (a URL, a receipt identifier, a page reference).
  4. Information sufficient to permit the office to contact the complaining party (an address, a telephone number, and an email).
  5. A statement that the complaining party has 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, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice is accurate, and that the complaining party is authorised to act on behalf of the owner of the right alleged to be infringed.

Notices that omit any of the six elements above may not be sufficient under the statute. The office is required to act expeditiously on complete notices.

4 · Counter-notice procedure

A subscriber whose material has been removed or disabled in response to a notice of infringement may submit a counter-notice under 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3). A complete counter-notice must contain:

  1. A physical or electronic signature.
  2. Identification of the material that has been removed or disabled, and the location at which the material appeared before removal.
  3. A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the subscriber has a good-faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification.
  4. The subscriber's name, address, and telephone number, and a statement consenting to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or, if the subscriber's address is outside the United States, for any judicial district in which the office may be found, and consent to accept service of process from the complaining party or its agent.

Upon receipt of a complete counter-notice, the office will forward a copy to the complaining party and inform them that the material will be restored not less than ten nor more than fourteen business days from the date of receipt, unless the office is notified of an action filed seeking a court order to restrain the alleged infringer.

5 · Repeat-infringer policy

The office may, in appropriate circumstances and at its sole discretion, suspend or terminate the accounts of subscribers who are determined to be repeat infringers. A "repeat infringer" is a subscriber who has been the subject of two or more complete and substantiated notices of infringement within a rolling twelve-month period, where no counter-notice has restored the material.

6 · Knowingly false notices and counter-notices

Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material is infringing, or that material was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification, may be liable for damages. The office will report knowingly false notices and counter-notices to the complaining party and may notify the subscriber of any such report.

7 · A note on receipts

An Orphograph receipt records that a particular cryptographic fingerprint existed at a particular Bitcoin block. The receipt itself does not contain the underlying material; the office does not, structurally, possess that material. Notices of infringement against an underlying file are therefore directed not to the office, but to the party in possession of the file. Notices concerning a receipt page or its rendering are properly directed here.