DMCA Policy

Introduction

Hobigate ("We", "Us", or "Our") respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects users of our service to do the same. In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 ("DMCA"), we will respond expeditiously to claims of copyright infringement that are reported to our designated copyright agent.

If you are a copyright owner, or authorized to act on behalf of one, and believe that your copyrighted work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please submit your claim via email to our designated Copyright Agent, listed below.

Reporting Copyright Infringement

If you believe that content available on or through Hobigate infringes one or more of your copyrights, please submit a written DMCA Notice of Alleged Infringement ("Notice") to our designated Copyright Agent containing the following information:

Required Information

1. Identification of the Copyrighted Work: Identify the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed. If multiple works are covered by a single notification, provide a representative list.
2. Identification of the Infringing Material: Identify the material that you claim is infringing (or to be the subject of infringing activity) and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material (e.g., URL links).
3. Contact Information: Your full legal name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address.
4. Good Faith Statement: 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.
5. Accuracy Statement: 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 owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
6. Physical or Electronic Signature: A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

How to Submit a Notice

You may submit your DMCA Notice to our designated Copyright Agent via email:

Please note that under Section 512(f) of the DMCA, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material is infringing may be subject to liability.

Our Response to DMCA Notices

Upon receipt of a valid DMCA Notice, we will:

• Remove or disable access to the allegedly infringing material
• Notify the content provider, member, or user who posted the material
• Provide the content provider with information about the counter-notification process
• Maintain records of all notices and counter-notices

We aim to process valid DMCA notices within 1-3 business days of receipt.

Counter-Notification

If you believe that your content was removed or access to it was disabled by mistake or misidentification, you may submit a counter-notification to our designated Copyright Agent.

Required Information for Counter-Notification

1. Identification of Material: Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.
2. Good Faith Statement: 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.
3. Consent to Jurisdiction: A statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which your address is located, or if your address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which Hobigate may be found, and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification of the alleged infringement.
4. Contact Information: Your name, address, and telephone number.
5. Physical or Electronic Signature: Your physical or electronic signature.

How to Submit a Counter-Notification

You may submit your counter-notification to our designated Copyright Agent via email:

Important: If you submit a counter-notification, the original complaining party has 10-14 business days to file a lawsuit. If they do not, we may restore the removed content.

Repeat Infringers

In accordance with the DMCA, we maintain a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of users who are repeat infringers. We may also terminate accounts of users who repeatedly submit false or frivolous DMCA notices.

User-Generated Content

Hobigate allows users to post reviews, comments, blog posts, community posts, and other user-generated content. Additionally, users can submit book, person, character, and media information through HobigateDB (BooksDB, PeopleDB, CharacterDB, and other future databases) and upload images such as cover images and photos. We do not pre-screen this content, but we reserve the right to remove any content that violates our Terms of Use or applicable laws, including copyright infringement.

Users are responsible for ensuring that all content they post and all data they submit to the database (including text, images, and metadata) does not infringe the copyrights or other rights of third parties. By posting content or submitting data, users represent that they have the right to do so.

Images uploaded by users are automatically processed by the platform (format conversion, resizing, etc.). This processing does not change the copyright status of the images, and all responsibility remains with the uploader.

Fair Use and Other Defenses

The DMCA provides certain protections for service providers like Hobigate. We use media information (posters, covers, descriptions, price data) from third-party sources (TMDB, IGDB, Open Library, CheapShark) under fair use for informational and cataloging purposes.

For user-submitted data and uploaded images in HobigateDB, responsibility lies with the user who submitted the data. Hobigate does not guarantee the copyright status of user-submitted content.

If you believe that your use of copyrighted material constitutes fair use or is otherwise legally permissible, you may include this information in your counter-notification.

Disclaimer

This DMCA Policy is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. If you have questions about copyright law or the DMCA, please consult with a qualified attorney.

We cannot provide legal advice or assist with the preparation of DMCA notices or counter-notifications. We can only process properly formatted notices that comply with the DMCA requirements.

Contact Information

For DMCA-related inquiries, please contact our designated copyright agent: