DMCA & Copyright Policy

My Grow Community respects intellectual property rights and expects its users to do the same. This policy explains how to notify us of alleged copyright infringement on the Platform and how we handle those notices under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA"), 17 U.S.C. § 512.

1. Designated Copyright Agent

We have designated the following agent to receive notifications of claimed copyright infringement:

Note: until the Designated Agent registration is filed with the U.S. Copyright Office at dmca.copyright.gov (online; $6 filing fee), the DMCA safe harbor is not yet available to this platform. Filing is a prerequisite to invoking § 512(c).

2. How to send a takedown notice

If you believe content on the Platform infringes your copyright, send a written notice to our Designated Agent at the address above. To be effective under 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3), your notice MUST include all of the following:

1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of those works.
3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity, and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material (e.g. the listing URL).
4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you — name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address.
5. A statement that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
6. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

False notices have legal consequences. Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that content is infringing may be liable for damages — including costs and attorneys' fees — incurred by the alleged infringer and by us.

3. What happens after we receive a notice

1. We review the notice for completeness and apparent good faith.
2. If the notice is effective, we will remove or disable access to the allegedly infringing content promptly.
3. We will take reasonable steps to notify the user who posted the content (the "alleged infringer") of the takedown.
4. The alleged infringer may file a counter-notice (see Section 4).
5. Repeat infringers may have their accounts terminated (see Section 5).

4. Counter-notice procedure

If you are a user whose content was removed under a DMCA notice and you believe the removal was wrongful (for example, because you own the content, have a license, or your use is a fair use), you may submit a counter-notice to our Designated Agent. To be effective under 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3), your counter-notice MUST include:

1. Your physical or electronic signature.
2. Identification of the material that was removed or disabled and the location at which it appeared before removal.
3. A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification.
4. Your name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the U.S. federal district court for the district in which you reside (or, if you reside outside the U.S., for any judicial district in which the Platform may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided the original DMCA notice or that person's agent.

Upon receipt of a valid counter-notice, we will forward it to the original complainant. If the complainant does not file a court action seeking an injunction against the user within 10 to 14 business days, we may restore the removed content.

5. Repeat-infringer policy

Consistent with 17 U.S.C. § 512(i), we maintain a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances, accounts of users who are repeat infringers of copyright. A "repeat infringer" generally means a user who has been the subject of multiple separate, effective DMCA takedown notices that the user did not successfully counter-notice.

We may also terminate accounts at our discretion in cases of egregious single-instance infringement, even before a repeat-infringer threshold is met.

6. Trademarks and other IP

This page addresses DMCA / copyright issues only. To report trademark infringement, right-of-publicity violations, or other intellectual-property concerns not covered by the DMCA, please email legal@mygrowcommunity.com with a description of the issue and how to identify the content. We do not promise the same statutory process as DMCA, but we will review and respond in a reasonable time.

7. License you grant by posting content

As stated in our Terms of Service, you retain ownership of content you post on the Platform. You grant us the licenses described in Section 13 of the Terms to operate the Platform. You represent that you have the right to post anything you upload, including photos. Do not upload photos that you do not own or have permission to use.

8. Contact

Copyright concerns: dmca@mygrowcommunity.com
Other intellectual-property concerns: legal@mygrowcommunity.com