DMCA & Copyright
If something here is yours.
Last updated 2026-05-17.
If you believe content on Merrie infringes your copyright, this is how to tell us. We comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and we act on valid notices.
This page is part of Merrie's Terms of Service.
Designated agent
The designated agent registered with the U.S. Copyright Office to receive DMCA notices for Merrie:
Zachary Benjamin937 N 2nd St, 3F
Philadelphia, PA 19123
[email protected]
(503) 449-5572
A note before you write
Most of what's published on Merrie is event metadata: titles, dates, times, venues, prices, brief descriptions. The facts of an event aren't copyrightable; the same factual listing can appear on multiple sites without infringing anything.
What can be copyrightable: posters, cover images, photographs, original event-description prose, group bios, essays. 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 DMCA notice must include all of the following:
- A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or authorized agent.
- Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed.
- Identification of the material on Merrie that is claimed to be infringing, plus a brief description. The URL is the simplest pointer.
- Your contact info: full name, address, phone, email.
- A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
- 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 elements may be ignored. We're not trying to be picky. These elements are what makes a DMCA notice work.
What happens next
When we receive a valid notice:
- We acknowledge receipt within 5 business days.
- We review the claim. If it's valid on its face, we take down the material. Usually within a few days of acknowledgement, faster for clear-cut cases.
- We notify the contributor whose material was removed and forward your notice (with your contact info) so they can respond.
- 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 have rights to the material, fair use applies, etc.), you can submit a counter-notice to [email protected] with:
- Your physical or electronic signature.
- Identification of the removed material and where it appeared.
- A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief the material was removed by mistake or misidentification.
- 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're outside the US), and that you'll accept service of process from the original complainant.
We'll forward the counter-notice to the original complainant. If they don't 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 triggers termination. Egregious single cases, like large-scale infringement or 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're not running a clearinghouse for competitive sabotage. If your "notice" is really an attempt to suppress speech, criticism, or a competitor, we'll see it and decline.
Contact
[email protected] for the
designated agent inbox.
[email protected] for general help.