Copyright & DMCA

How to tell us something of yours was posted here without permission.

Last updated 21 September 2026

The short version: listings, reviews, photos and lost-pet posts on Pawperator™ are uploaded by the people using it, not by us. If something here is yours and shouldn't be, email us with Copyright in the subject line and we'll act on it. You don't need a lawyer to do that.

1. Reporting infringement

Send a notice to hello.pawperator@gmail.com with Copyright in the subject line. To be effective under 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3), your notice needs to include all of the following:

Your physical or electronic signature.
Identification of the work you say was infringed.
The URL or enough detail for us to find the material on Pawperator™.
Your name, mailing address, telephone number and email address.
A statement that you believe in good faith 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 owner or authorized to act on the owner's behalf.

A notice missing these elements may not be actionable, but send it anyway — we would rather look at an imperfect report than miss a real problem.

2. What we do with it

We remove or disable access to the material expeditiously.
We tell the person who posted it, and pass on your notice.
We tell you what we did.

3. Counter-notice

If your material was removed and you believe that was a mistake or a misidentification, send a counter-notice to the same address with Counter-notice in the subject. Under § 512(g)(3) it needs:

Your signature.
Identification of the material and where it appeared before removal.
A statement under penalty of perjury that you believe in good faith it was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification.
Your name, address and telephone number, and a statement consenting to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for the district where you live — or, if you are outside the United States, of the Western District of Washington — and that you will accept service of process from the person who sent the original notice.

We forward the counter-notice to the original complainant. If they don't file a court action within 10 to 14 business days, we may restore the material.

4. Repeat infringers

We terminate the accounts of people who repeatedly infringe. We count notices, we tell people when a notice lands against them, and an account that accumulates them is closed. That applies to suppliers, including the supplier we own.

5. Misuse of this process

Section 512(f) makes it unlawful to knowingly misrepresent that material is infringing. Using a takedown notice to remove an honest negative review, a competitor's listing, or a photograph you don't own is misuse, and we treat it as such. If we think a notice was sent in bad faith we will say so to both parties and keep the material up.

A note for photographers and rescues: if you'd rather we credit and keep a photo than remove it, say so — most of these turn out to be someone reusing a rescue's own photo without asking, and a credit line solves it.