Dragon's Quill respects the intellectual property rights of authors, artists, readers, creators, and rights holders.

This Copyright and DMCA Policy explains how copyright complaints should be submitted to Dragon's Quill and how Dragon's Quill may respond to copyright-related notices, counter-notices, repeat infringement, and related issues.

This policy is part of the Dragon's Quill Terms of Service.

1. Copyright Ownership and User Responsibility

Users may only upload, publish, post, display, or submit content they own or have permission to use.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• stories;
• chapters;
• covers;
• images;
• profile content;
• comments;
• reviews;
• messages;
• author notes;
• story descriptions;
• tags or metadata;
• any other content submitted to Dragon's Quill.

Dragon's Quill does not claim ownership of stories or other user-submitted content merely because they are posted on the platform. However, users are responsible for ensuring that their content does not infringe another person's copyright or other rights.

2. Copyright / DMCA Contact

Dragon's Quill's designated copyright agent for notices of claimed copyright infringement is:

• Designated Copyright Agent
  Copyright Manager
  Dragon's Quill LLC
  502 W 7th St, STE 100
  Erie, PA 16502
  United States
  Email: dmca@dragonsquill.net
  Phone: (717) 325-9635
• Copyright notices should be sent to the contact above.

3. Submitting a Copyright Takedown Notice

If you believe that content on Dragon's Quill infringes your copyright, you may send a written notice to Dragon's Quill's designated copyright agent.

To help us review your notice, please include:

• your physical or electronic signature;
• identification of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed;
• identification of the allegedly infringing material on Dragon's Quill, including enough information for us to locate it, such as the story title, chapter title, author name, username, URL, or screenshot;
• your name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address;
• a statement that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material is not authorized by the copyright owner, the copyright owner's agent, or the law;
• a statement that the information in your notice is accurate; and
• a statement, under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

Dragon's Quill may reject or request more information for notices that are incomplete, unclear, abusive, fraudulent, or not related to copyright infringement.

4. What Happens After Dragon's Quill Receives a Notice

After receiving a copyright notice, Dragon's Quill may take action it considers appropriate, including:

• removing the reported content;
• disabling access to the reported content;
• restricting the content;
• notifying the user who posted the content;
• preserving records;
• disabling monetization;
• holding payouts;
• issuing refunds where appropriate;
• taking account action;
• requesting more information.

Removal or restriction of content does not mean Dragon's Quill has made a final legal decision about copyright ownership or infringement.

Dragon's Quill is not a court and does not resolve private ownership disputes between users, collaborators, authors, artists, publishers, editors, or other parties.

5. Counter-Notices

If your content was removed or disabled because of a copyright notice and you believe the removal was a mistake or misidentification, you may submit a counter-notice to Dragon's Quill's designated copyright agent.

A counter-notice should include:

• your physical or electronic signature;
• identification of the material that was removed or disabled;
• the location where the material appeared before it was removed or disabled;
• a statement, under penalty of perjury, that you have a good-faith belief the material was removed or disabled because of mistake or misidentification;
• your name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address;
• a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for the judicial district where your address is located, or if your address is outside the United States, the federal courts located in Pennsylvania; and
• a statement that you will accept service of process from the person who submitted the original copyright notice or that person's agent.

Dragon's Quill may forward your counter-notice to the person who submitted the original notice.

Dragon's Quill may restore removed material where appropriate and permitted by law, unless the original claimant informs Dragon's Quill that they have filed a court action seeking to restrain the user from engaging in infringing activity.

Dragon's Quill may decline to restore content if the content also violates Dragon's Quill's Terms of Service, content policies, monetization rules, payment processor requirements, or other platform rules.

6. Repeat Infringers

Dragon's Quill may restrict or terminate accounts of users who repeatedly infringe copyright or repeatedly submit infringing content.

Dragon's Quill may consider factors such as:

• the number of valid copyright complaints;
• the seriousness of the alleged infringement;
• whether the user submitted a valid counter-notice;
• whether the content appears to involve plagiarism, piracy, impersonation, or commercial abuse;
• whether the content was monetized;
• the user's account history;
• legal, financial, reader-trust, and platform risk.

Dragon's Quill may take action after repeated valid complaints or sooner in serious cases.

Possible actions include warnings, content removal, monetization restrictions, payout holds, account suspension, or account termination.

7. False, Misleading, or Abusive Notices

Do not submit false, misleading, abusive, or bad-faith copyright notices or counter-notices.

Copyright processes may not be used to:

• harass users;
• suppress lawful criticism;
• attack competitors;
• remove content simply because it is similar in theme, genre, trope, title style, or idea;
• interfere with lawful use;
• misuse Dragon's Quill's reporting systems.

Dragon's Quill may restrict users who abuse copyright complaints, counter-notices, reports, or moderation systems.

A person who knowingly misrepresents that material is infringing or was removed by mistake may be legally responsible for damages, costs, and attorneys' fees.

8. Copyright Complaints vs. Other Complaints

This Copyright and DMCA Policy is for copyright infringement issues.

It is not the correct process for every type of complaint.

For example:

• plagiarism concerns that do not involve a clear copyright claim may be reviewed under Dragon's Quill's moderation process;
• harassment, threats, abuse, or safety issues should be reported through Dragon's Quill's reporting tools;
• trademark complaints may require a separate legal notice;
• general content-policy violations should be reported through the appropriate report flow;
• story similarity, shared tropes, genre overlap, or similar ideas are not automatically copyright infringement.
• Dragon's Quill may redirect complaints to the appropriate process where needed.

9. Monetized Content and Copyright Complaints

If a copyright complaint involves monetized content, Dragon's Quill may take additional action, including:

• disabling paid access;
• disabling monetization;
• holding author earnings;
• delaying payouts;
• issuing refunds where appropriate;
• reversing earnings;
• preserving purchase, payout, refund, and ledger records;
• restricting the author account.

Copyright complaints involving paid content may also be handled under the Author Monetization Terms, Payout Policy, Refund Policy, Paid Chapter Deletion / Unpublishing Policy, and other applicable Dragon's Quill policies.

10. Recordkeeping

Dragon's Quill may retain records related to copyright complaints, counter-notices, removed content, account actions, monetization restrictions, refunds, disputes, payout holds, repeat-infringer decisions, and related communications.

These records may be retained for legal, compliance, support, moderation, safety, payment, audit, and platform-integrity purposes.

11. Changes to This Policy

Dragon's Quill may update this Copyright and DMCA Policy from time to time.

If we make material changes, we may provide notice by updating the "Last Updated" date, posting a notice, updating related legal pages, or using another reasonable method.

12. Contact

For copyright notices and counter-notices, contact:

• Designated Copyright Agent
  Copyright Manager
  Dragon's Quill LLC
  502 W 7th St, STE 100
  Erie, PA 16502
  United States
  Email: dmca@dragonsquill.net
  Phone: (717) 325-9635

For non-copyright support questions, contact Dragon's Quill through the appropriate support or reporting tools.