The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a U.S. federal law designed to address copyright concerns in the internet context. Among other provisions, the DMCA sets up a system for copyright owners to report infringements directly to the hosting platform that the infringement appears on. If a host or Internet Service Provider (ISP) receives a valid DMCA Takedown Notice and they act to remove the infringing content, they qualify for a safe harbor protecting them from liability for the actions of their users.
Sending DMCA Takedown Notices
Under the terms of the CC-BY-SA license, you retain the copyright to your contributions to Wikia. If someone is reusing the material without attribution, they might be in violation of that license and infringing your copyright. Only you or your designated agent can send a DMCA Takedown Notice in the event of infringement. Wikia is unable to send one for you or provide legal advice, but there are several online resources that explain the notice and takedown procedure requirements of the DMCA.
It's important to make sure you understand the implications of the sworn statements, and have taken exceptions like [Use] into consideration before sending. There are legal and financial repercussions for filing fraudulent DMCA Takedown requests - this is not a tool to be used lightly.
Filing a DMCA Takedown request itself isn't hard to do, but it does require collecting important details - before you file a request, you need to know the following:
- If you're under 18, you should have your parent or guardian file on your behalf.
- You'll need to include direct links in your request to specific pieces of content - just providing the two sites' main pages isn't sufficient.
- The Request should be sent to the Designated Agent of the ISP. You can generally locate the Designated Agent in the "Legal" or "Contact" sections of an ISP's website.
DMCA Notices to Wikia
As a host for user-generated content, Wikia is obligated to remove any infringing material that we receive notice of. If you feel that your copyright is currently being infringed on Wikia, please contact our designated agent under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act:
- Attn: Copyright Agent
- Wikia, Inc.
- 500 Third Street
- Suite 405
- San Francisco, CA 94107
You may email the designated agent via copyright@wikia.com. Please include "Claim of copyright infringement" in the subject of your email.
See also
- Learn about Image Copyright Tags.
- Learn about Copyright.
- Learn about Licensing on Wikia.
Further Help & Feedback
- Browse and search other help pages at Help:Contents
- Check Fandom Community Central for sources of further help and support
- Check Contacting Fandom for how to report any errors or unclear steps in this article