What is DMCA and why you should know about it
DMCA stands for Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and in the age of online publishing, it’s more important than ever. Plagiarism and copyright infringement is a serious matter, and it a priority for us to prevent it from occurring on our platform and elsewhere.
If your story is being plagiarized on Inkitt, please reach out to us immediately at support@inkitt.com. If your story is being plagiarized outside of Inkitt, you can file a DMCA takedown notice to report the plagiarism and ask for the offending material to be removed.
Top Tip!
Many websites have dedicated webpages and submission forms, which you can use without filing a DMCA takedown notice. You can reach out to us at support@inkitt.com, if you have any questions about finding this on an external platform
How to file a DMCA notice
- Be sure to collect screenshots, links to the plagiarized work, and any additional proof to verify that the work in question does belong to you. Anything with dates and timelines is typically helpful as the Webmaster will need to verify the claims. For example, you should provide a link to your work published on Inkitt, Wattpad, etc. to establish a timeframe and to show ownership.
- You must determine who the Webmaster is so that you can send the DMCA Takedown Notice to the correct place. A good source to find this is: https://www.whois.com/whois. Use the Registrant or Administrative Contact to get in touch.
- Fill out this DMCA template below:
Dear [Copyright Agent Name]:
I am the copyright owner of [Name of Story] being infringed at: [URL where infringing content can be found]. A copy of the [Name of Story] being infringed is included to assist with its removal from the infringing websites and can also be found here: [Inkitt URL].
This letter is official notification under the provisions of Section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to effect removal of the above-reported infringements. I request that you immediately issue a cancellation message as specified in RFC 1036 for the specified postings and prevent the infringer, who is identified by its web address, from posting the infringing material to your servers in the future.
Please be advised that the law requires you, as a service provider, to remove or disable access to the infringing materials upon receiving this notice. Under US law, a service provider, such as yourself, enjoys immunity from a copyright lawsuit provided that you act with deliberate speed to investigate and rectify ongoing copyright infringement. If service providers do not investigate and remove or disable the infringing material this immunity is lost. Therefore, in order for you to remain immune from a copyright infringement action you will need to investigate and ultimately remove or otherwise disable the infringing material from your services with all due speed.
I am providing this notice in good faith and with the reasonable belief that my rights as the copyright owner are being infringed. Under penalty of perjury I certify that the information contained in the notification is both true and accurate and I am the copyright holder.
Please send me at the email address below a prompt response indicating the actions you have taken to resolve this matter.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address + Your Phone] [Your email]
- Send the template you completed to the Webmaster contact you found in step 2, and include any proof you collected in step 1 that verifies your claim.
Remember, filing a DMCA takedown notice isn't nearly as daunting as it seems, so don’t hesitate to use it if your work has been plagiarized.