DMCA Policy & Notice-and-Takedown Procedure

Last updated: May 2026

Explore Your Garden respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects users of the Site to do the same. This page describes how to notify us of alleged copyright infringement under the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA, 17 U.S.C. § 512), the European Directive 2000/31/EC on electronic commerce, and equivalent national notice-and-takedown frameworks.

1. Designated Copyright Agent

Notices of alleged copyright infringement should be sent to our designated agent:

To ensure prompt processing, please use the email channel. Postal notices are accepted but processed more slowly.

2. What constitutes a valid DMCA notice

To be effective under the DMCA, your notice must contain substantially all of the following:

1. A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act on the owner’s behalf.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed (or, if multiple works, a representative list).
3. Identification of the material on our Site that is claimed to be infringing, with sufficient detail (a URL is the simplest form) to allow us to locate it.
4. Your contact information: full name, postal address, telephone number, and email address.
5. A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use of the material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
6. A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the owner’s behalf.

Notices missing one or more of these elements may not be processed as DMCA notices, although we will still examine claims of infringement reported in good faith.

3. Sample notice format

You may adapt the following template:

To: Designated Agent, Explore Your Garden
Subject: DMCA Notice

I, [full name], hereby notify Explore Your Garden of alleged copyright
infringement at the following URL(s):

  - https://exploreyourgarden.site/[page-or-resource]

The original copyrighted work(s) of which I am the owner (or authorized
agent) is/are:

  - [Title, publication date, URL of original, registration number if any]

I have a good faith belief that the use of the material described above
is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.

The information in this notice is accurate, and under penalty of
perjury I am the copyright owner or authorized to act on the
copyright owner's behalf.

[Signature]
[Full name]
[Postal address]
[Telephone]
[Email]
[Date]

4. Our response to a valid notice

Upon receipt of a properly formatted notice, we will:

1. Acknowledge receipt within 48 business hours.
2. Review the notice and the disputed material.
3. If the claim is well-founded, remove or disable access to the material expeditiously.
4. Notify the relevant content contributor (if applicable) of the takedown.
5. Maintain records of the notice, our response, and any subsequent counter-notice for at least seven years.

Where a claim is unclear or appears to be in bad faith (for example, an attempt to suppress fair-use commentary or competitor criticism), we may seek clarification before acting. We do not act on automated takedown bot submissions without human verification.

5. Counter-notice procedure

If material you posted has been removed and you believe in good faith that the removal was a mistake or misidentification, you may submit a counter-notice. To be effective, a counter-notice must contain:

1. Your physical or electronic signature.
2. Identification of the material that has been removed and the location at which it appeared before removal.
3. A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief the material was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification.
4. Your contact information.
5. A statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal court for the judicial district in which your address is located (or, if outside the United States, of any judicial district in which Explore Your Garden may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the original notifier.

Send counter-notices to the same address as DMCA notices, with the subject line “DMCA Counter-Notice.” If a valid counter-notice is received, we will provide a copy to the original notifier and may restore the material after 10 business days unless the original notifier has filed for a court order against the alleged infringer.

6. Repeat-infringer policy

It is our policy to terminate, in appropriate circumstances, the access of users (including contributors and commenters) who are determined to be repeat infringers. We retain sole discretion to determine what constitutes an infringer and a repeat infringer.

7. Misrepresentations

Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), any person who knowingly materially misrepresents either that material is infringing or that material was removed by mistake or misidentification may be liable for damages. We reserve the right to seek damages from any person who knowingly submits false notices or counter-notices.

8. Our use of third-party material

Our editorial articles use limited third-party material under fair-use principles, fair-dealing exceptions, the Italian “diritto di critica e di cronaca” (Article 70 of Legge 633/1941), and equivalent provisions in other jurisdictions. Specifically:

• Product images in reviews — we use manufacturer or publisher product images in product reviews under the editorial right to inform readers about commercial products being reviewed.
• Brand logos and trade marks — used in reviews and reference articles solely for identification of the commercial product or service being discussed.
• Brief quotations from copyrighted texts under fair use, with attribution and link to the original.
• Photographs of plants and gardens taken by us are our own work; where we use stock or licensed imagery, the source is credited.

If you are a rights holder who believes our use exceeds fair-use boundaries, please send a DMCA notice as described above and we will review promptly. We will not engage in disputes outside the formal notice-and-takedown procedure for serious claims.

9. Other intellectual-property concerns

For non-copyright intellectual-property concerns (trade mark, design rights, related rights, neighboring rights) please contact us at dmca [at] exploreyourgarden [punto] site with a clear description of the issue. We will respond as for DMCA notices, applying the appropriate framework.

10. Privacy of submitted notices

DMCA notices and counter-notices we receive may be shared with the relevant counterpart (the alleged infringer for notices, the original notifier for counter-notices) and, where required, with hosting providers and law enforcement. They may also be summarized in transparency reports if we publish such reports in the future. By submitting a notice you accept this disclosure as part of the procedure. For our broader privacy practices, see our Privacy Policy.

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