DMCA Policy

1. Designated Agent

Our designated agent for receipt of DMCA notifications is reachable by email at info@department-of-health.org. Please use the subject line “DMCA notice” for takedown requests and “DMCA counter-notice” for counter-notifications. We process all notices submitted in good faith and that include the six statutory elements set out below.

2. Filing a DMCA Notice

If you believe content on department-of-health.org/ infringes a copyright you own or are authorised to enforce, send a written notice to the designated agent. The notice should be sent in plain text or PDF and include all six statutory elements.

3. Six Required Elements (17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3))

1. Physical or electronic signature — of the copyright owner, or a person authorised to act on the owner’s behalf.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed — a specific work, or, if multiple works at the site are covered, a representative list.
3. Identification of the allegedly infringing material — sufficient to permit us to locate it (full URLs to the specific page or pages on department-of-health.org/, not the homepage).
4. Reasonably sufficient contact information — your name, address, telephone number, and email.
5. A good-faith statement — that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorised by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
6. An accuracy statement under penalty of perjury — that the information in the notification is accurate, and (under penalty of perjury) that you are authorised to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

4. Counter-Notice (17 U.S.C. § 512(g))

If your content was removed in response to a DMCA notice and you believe the removal was based on mistake or misidentification, you may file a counter-notice. A counter-notice must include:

• Your physical or electronic signature
• Identification of the material that was removed and the location at which it appeared before removal
• A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief that the material was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification
• Your name, address, and telephone number
• 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 outside the U.S., for any judicial district in which department-of-health.org/ may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the person who submitted the original notice

If we receive a valid counter-notice, we will forward it to the original complainant. If the original complainant does not file a court action seeking a restraining order against the user within 10–14 business days of receipt of the counter-notice, we may restore the removed material.

5. Repeat-Infringer Policy (17 U.S.C. § 512(i))

department-of-health.org/ maintains a policy, in compliance with Section 512(i), of terminating in appropriate circumstances the access of users (including contributors and commenters) who are repeat infringers of copyright. Because the site does not host user-generated content as a primary service, this policy is most relevant for contributors and any future user-submission features.

6. Misrepresentation Liability (17 U.S.C. § 512(f))

7. Fair Use & Newsworthy Public-Health Reporting (17 U.S.C. § 107)

Section 107 of the Copyright Act establishes the fair-use defence. The four statutory factors are: (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether it is for nonprofit educational purposes or transformative; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Federal government works are generally not subject to copyright (17 U.S.C. § 105). State agency forms, regulations, and statutes are public information. Quotations from agency rules, codified statutes, and CFR sections used to inform readers about procedure are well within fair use.

8. Trademark — Nominative Fair Use

We use the names of state and federal agencies — for example, “California Department of Public Health,” “Texas Department of State Health Services,” “Florida Department of Health,” “New York State Department of Health,” “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” “U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,” “Food and Drug Administration,” “Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services” — to identify the agency our page covers. This is nominative fair use. Under the Ninth Circuit’s framework in New Kids on the Block v. News America Publishing, Inc., 971 F.2d 302 (9th Cir. 1992) and subsequent case law, nominative use is permitted where the product or service in question is not readily identifiable without use of the trademark, only so much of the mark is used as is reasonably necessary, and the user does nothing that would suggest sponsorship or endorsement by the mark holder. We meet all three requirements.

If you are the mark holder for a state agency, federal agency, or other organisation referenced on the site and you believe our use exceeds nominative fair use, email us with subject line “Trademark concern” — we respond within 5 business days. We will not entertain trademark objections that are functionally objections to accurate reporting on agency activity protected by the First Amendment.

9. Defamation Framework

Defamation requires a false statement of fact published with the relevant degree of fault. For matters of public concern — including public-health enforcement actions and the operation of public agencies — the Supreme Court’s framework in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964) requires public officials to prove “actual malice” (knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth). For private figures involved in matters of public concern, Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323 (1974) and its progeny require at least a showing of fault.

We report on agency action. We attribute statements to the agency record. We correct factual errors when shown they are factual errors. We do not retract accurate reporting in response to objections from people who don’t like that the reporting is accurate. If you believe a statement on the site is factually incorrect, email us with subject line “Defamation concern” or “Correction” — provide the page URL, the specific statement, and the source you believe shows it is incorrect. We respond within 7 business days.

10. What We Can’t Help With

• We can’t remove agency-published records that exist in the agency’s own database — we report what the agency publishes; the source is the agency
• We can’t remove accurate reporting on public-health enforcement actions, healthcare-facility licensure history, or agency-published inspection scores
• We can’t suppress public-records information that has been made available by an agency under its applicable public-records or sunshine law
• We can’t remove information about you from federal or state agency databases — you must contact the agency directly
• We can’t represent you in litigation against any third party — consult a licensed attorney
• We can’t process HIPAA, FCRA, or other federal-statute complaints — those go to the relevant federal agency (HHS-OCR, FTC, CFPB)

11. Contact

For DMCA notices: info@department-of-health.org with subject line “DMCA notice”.
For counter-notices: subject line “DMCA counter-notice”.
For trademark concerns: subject line “Trademark concern”.
For defamation concerns: subject line “Defamation concern” or “Correction”.