DMCA Policy

This is placeholder text. It describes how we handle copyright notices under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512); counsel will review the wording.

Reporting infringement

If you own the copyright in something on Bastard Games that is there without permission, send a notice with the copyright form. It asks for each element the law requires. You do not need an account. Once our designated DMCA agent is registered with the US Copyright Office, the form lists the agent's details; until then, send notices through the form. Trademark complaints use the trademark form, and intimate images shared without consent use their own form.

Knowingly misrepresenting that material is infringing can make you liable for damages (17 U.S.C. § 512(f)).

What we do with a notice

• We aim to act within 24 hours of a complete notice. We remove or disable the release or game it names.
• We email the developer what was removed and why, with a copy of the notice.
• We list the takedown in our public takedown log: the date, the content, the kind of notice, the sender's organization (or "Individual") and the status. We do not publish the sender's name.
• Remix royalties owed to a game's developer are held while a copyright claim against the game is open, and for 30 days after a removal made under it. After that they are redirected to the remixer who paid them, or reviewed by us (for example when royalties from several remixes were merged). [TBD by counsel]
• Files removed after a valid notice cannot be published again. Identical copies of them elsewhere on the store, including inside archives, are removed or sent to a person for review (see the Content Policy). Removing such a copy does not add a strike by itself.

Counter-notice

If a developer believes a removal was a mistake, or that they have permission, they can send a counter-notice from their dashboard. It includes the statements the law requires and consent to the courts' jurisdiction.

• We forward the counter-notice to the person who sent the notice.
• We restore the removed material on or after 10 business days after we received the counter-notice, and within 14 business days, unless before then the sender tells our designated agent that they have filed a court action.
• A restored removal does not count as a strike.

Repeat infringers

Developers who have repeatedly had copyright removals upheld lose their accounts. See the repeat infringer policy.

Appeals

Developers can appeal any action we take against their games or account from their dashboard, in addition to a counter-notice. See the Content Policy.

Contact

Our designated agent's details are on Contacts and on each report form.