DMCA Policy

Why This Policy Exists

• To protect the intellectual property rights of copyright owners whose work may appear on GearSteal.com without authorisation.
• To provide a clear, legally compliant mechanism for rights holders to request removal of infringing content.
• To protect legitimate users whose content has been incorrectly targeted through the counter-notification process.
• To maintain GearSteal.com’s safe harbor protections under 17 U.S.C. § 512, which limit our liability for user-generated content that infringes third-party copyrights.
• To demonstrate GearSteal.com’s good-faith commitment to respecting intellectual property rights.

Applicable Safe Harbor Provisions

Requirements We Meet to Maintain Safe Harbor

• We have registered a designated DMCA agent with the U.S. Copyright Office (see Section 3).
• We have published a DMCA takedown procedure and counter-notification procedure (this document).
• We respond expeditiously to valid takedown notices by removing or disabling access to allegedly infringing material.
• We do not have actual knowledge of the infringement or receive a financial benefit directly attributable to it where we have the right and ability to control it.
• We maintain and enforce a repeat infringer policy (see Section 13).
• We do not interfere with standard technical measures used by copyright owners to identify or protect their works.

Content on GearSteal.com That May Be Subject to DMCA Claims

• Written editorial content — articles, product reviews, buying guides, and deal descriptions created by our editorial team or contributors.
• Images and photography — product images, lifestyle photographs, or other visual media appearing on our pages.
• User-generated content — deals, coupon codes, comments, or reviews submitted by site visitors.
• Embedded media — videos, infographics, or other media embedded from third-party platforms that appear on GearSteal.com pages.
• Aggregated content — deal descriptions or product information that may reproduce or closely paraphrase copyrighted source material.

Content This Policy Does NOT Cover

• Content on third-party retailer websites — we link to retailer product pages but do not host that content. DMCA notices regarding retailer content must be directed to the retailer directly.
• Content on affiliate network platforms — AWIN, Amazon, ShareASale, and other network platforms host their own content governed by their own DMCA policies.
• Trademark disputes — DMCA is a copyright mechanism and does not cover trademark infringement. Trademark concerns should be raised via a separate legal process.
• Privacy or defamation complaints — these are not copyright issues and are handled under different legal frameworks. Contact us at legal@gearsteal.com for non-copyright content complaints.

The Six Required Elements

1. Physical or electronic signature of the authorised person.A physical or electronic signature of the person authorised to act on behalf of the copyright owner. For email notices, typing your full legal name at the end of the notice constitutes an electronic signature.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed.A description of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed. If multiple works are covered, you may provide a representative list. Include a link to the original work if it is accessible online.
3. Identification of the infringing material and its location.A description of the material you claim is infringing and its location on GearSteal.com — including the specific URL(s) where the material is located. This must be specific enough for us to identify and locate the material.
4. Your contact information.Your full name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address, so that we can contact you regarding your notice.
5. A statement of good-faith belief.A 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. A statement of accuracy and authority, under penalty of perjury.A statement that the information in the notice is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorised to act on behalf of the copyright owner of the work that is allegedly infringed.

Circumstances Where We May Not Remove Content

• The notice is materially incomplete or fails to meet the statutory requirements of 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3).
• We have a reasonable basis to believe the use constitutes fair use (though we will typically notify the submitter of this assessment).
• The identified content does not appear on GearSteal.com at the URL provided.
• The notice appears to be submitted in bad faith or as a form of abuse rather than a genuine copyright claim.

Grounds for a Valid Counter-Notification

You may submit a counter-notification if you believe:

• The content was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification — for example, your content was confused with someone else’s.
• You have a licence or permission from the copyright owner to use the material.
• The content is in the public domain and therefore not subject to copyright protection.
• Your use of the content constitutes fair use, fair dealing, or another exception to copyright under applicable law.
• The DMCA notice was submitted in bad faith or contains materially false information.

1. Your physical or electronic signature.A physical or electronic signature identifying you as the subscriber whose content was removed or disabled.
2. Identification of the material that was removed and its location.Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled, and the location (URL) at which the material appeared before it was removed.
3. A statement under penalty of perjury that removal was a mistake or misidentification.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 of the material.
4. Your name, address, and telephone number.Your full name, mailing address, and telephone number.
5. Consent to jurisdiction.A statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which your address is located, or if your address is outside the United States, for any judicial district in which GearSteal.com may be found, and that you will accept service of process from the person who submitted the takedown notice or their agent.

What Constitutes a Repeat Infringer

• A user against whom GearSteal.com has received two or more valid DMCA takedown notices in a rolling 12-month period will be flagged as a potential repeat infringer.
• A user who has received three or more valid DMCA notices in any period will have their account permanently terminated and will be barred from creating new accounts.
• A user whose content is found to be deliberately and wilfully infringing — such as wholesale copying of copyrighted works — may be terminated after a single notice at our discretion.

Due Process for Affected Users

• Users will be notified each time content is removed pursuant to a DMCA notice.
• Users will be warned when they approach the threshold for repeat infringer status.
• Users have the right to submit a counter-notification for each takedown they believe was made in error.
• Account termination decisions are made by our designated agent and are not automated.
• Users who believe their account was wrongly terminated may appeal by contacting legal@gearsteal.com.

Abusive DMCA Notices

GearSteal.com treats abusive or bad-faith DMCA notices seriously. If we determine that a notice was submitted:

• To harass a competitor or suppress legitimate commentary or criticism.
• By someone who does not hold the claimed copyright.
• With knowledge that the targeted material is licensed, in the public domain, or constitutes fair use.
• As part of a pattern of abuse of the DMCA process.

We reserve the right to: (a) refuse to act on the notice; (b) restore removed content; (c) share details of the notice with the affected user; and (d) report the abuse to relevant authorities or make it publicly known, to the extent permitted by law.

Fair Use (United States — 17 U.S.C. § 107)

Fair use is a legal doctrine that allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission. Courts evaluate fair use claims based on four factors:

• Purpose and character of use — commercial vs. non-commercial; transformative vs. reproductive.
• Nature of the copyrighted work — factual works receive less protection than creative works.
• Amount and substantiality — the quantity and importance of the portion used relative to the whole.
• Effect on the market — whether the use harms the market for the original work.

Common fair use examples relevant to a deals site include: brief quotations for commentary or criticism, thumbnail images for reference and identification, and factual reporting on publicly available pricing information.

Other Copyright Exceptions

• Fair dealing (UK, Canada, Australia, and other Commonwealth jurisdictions) — similar to fair use but with specific enumerated categories (research, private study, criticism, news reporting, etc.).
• Public domain — works for which copyright has expired or was never applicable. In the US, works published before January 1, 1929 are generally in the public domain.
• Creative Commons licences — some works are published under open licences that permit certain uses without specific permission. The terms of each CC licence must be followed.
• Implied licence — in some circumstances, a copyright owner’s public conduct implies a licence for certain uses of their work.

Non-U.S. Copyright Holders

• We will process copyright notices from non-U.S. rights holders using our DMCA procedure as a matter of good practice, even where U.S. DMCA law may not strictly apply.
• Copyright notices from EU rights holders may also reference the EU Copyright Directive (2019/790/EU) and the Platform Liability provisions of the Digital Services Act (DSA) where applicable.
• UK rights holders may reference the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002.
• Regardless of jurisdiction, all notices must contain the substantive information required under Section 6 of this policy to be actionable.

Relevant International Treaties

Copyright protection in most countries is governed by one or more of the following international agreements, to which the U.S. is also a signatory:

• Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works — provides automatic copyright protection across 181 member countries.
• WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) — an international treaty administered by WIPO that extends copyright protections to the digital environment.
• Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) — sets minimum standards for IP protection among WTO member countries.

What You May Do With Our Content

• Share links to our pages on social media, blogs, or other websites.
• Quote brief excerpts (50 words or fewer) for commentary, criticism, or news reporting purposes, provided a clear attribution and direct link back to the original GearSteal.com page is included.
• Print single copies for personal, non-commercial reference.

What You May NOT Do

• Reproduce, republish, or distribute our articles, reviews, or guides in whole or substantial part on any platform without written permission.
• Scrape our content for use in other websites, AI training datasets, or commercial databases.
• Remove or alter our copyright notices or attribution.
• Use our content in a way that implies our endorsement of a product, service, or viewpoint we have not endorsed.

Reporting Infringement of Our Content

If you discover content that belongs to GearSteal.com being reproduced without authorisation on another website, we would be grateful if you report it to us at legal@gearsteal.com. Please include the URL of the infringing page and the URL of the original GearSteal.com content. We handle all such reports in confidence.