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DMCA

X-Plane.to intends to fully comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA"), including the notice and "take down" provisions, and to benefit from the safe harbors immunising X-Plane.to from liability to the fullest extent of the law. X-Plane.to reserves the right to terminate the account of any member who infringes upon the copyright rights of others upon receipt of proper notification by the copyright owner or the copyright owner's legal agent.

To whom should I address my complaint?

Our Copyright Agent for Notice for Claims of Intellectual Property violations can be reached via [email protected] or via Flightsim E-Commerce, Carl-Zeiss-Straße 9, 55129 Mainz, Germany. If you must send your notice by physical mail, you can do that too, but it will take substantially longer for us to receive and respond to it. For faster processing, we recommend using e-mail delivery.

Important: False Statements

The DMCA requires that you swear to the facts in your copyright complaint under penalty of perjury. It is a federal crime to intentionally lie in a sworn declaration - see U.S. Code, Title 18, Section 1621. Submitting false information could also result in civil liability — that is, you could get sued for money damages. The DMCA itself provides for damages against any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity is infringing. Incorrect statements in your notification regarding whether material or activity constitutes copyright infringement may result in claims for damages, including costs and attorneys' fees. The law requires you to consider any counter-notices, restrictions, or exceptions before filing a complaint. In one case involving online content, a company was ordered to pay over $100,000 for costs and attorney fees; the content was protected by the U.S. "fair use" legal doctrine. If you are unsure whether material posted online infringes your copyrights, you should first contact an attorney.

What must my complaint include?

If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or that your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, please provide X-Plane.to Copyright Agent with the following information. The more details and the more accurate your notification is, the faster we will be able to process your report.

  • 1 Identify the copyrighted work you believe has been infringed. The link to the copyright infringing file or content that you are refering to.
  • 2 The link to the original content. Where can we find the original work that is protected by your copyright?
  • 3 A presice description of which of your copyrighted contents have been infringed and how you did come to the conclusion that the content infringes your copyright. It is important to be as specific as possible in your identification. This identification needs to be reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the infringing material. We need the exact file names within the affected content to identify the copyright violation.
  • 4 Your Contact Information. This includes the full name, address, telephone number and email address of the Complainant.
  • 5 Include the following statement: "I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above is not authorized by the copyright owner, or its agent, or the law. I have taken fair use into consideration."
  • 6 Also include the following statement: "I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in this notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner, or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed."
  • 7 Sign your complaint by your full first and last name.

How can I speed up the process?

We do our best to process all incoming requests with highest priority. However, the more details your complaint contains, the faster we can take action. Therefore, take special care to include all mandatory details, and if you want to speed up the process, attach some sample images, such as comparison images of the original and the infringing content, highlighting the similarities and differences of both files, to support your claims. You don't have to write a novel; it should only be obvious to us that there is definitely a copyright infringement.

What is your response to a valid takedown notice?

Assuming the takedown notice is sufficiently detailed according to the statutory requirements, X-Plane.to will disable access to the content in question and notify the uploader of the content of the infringement. Our response may include blocking access to or removing allegedly infringing material and/or terminating accounts. If we remove or disable access to material as a result of such a notification, we may notify the uploader of the affected content to provide a counter-notification. Other users can not download or access the content anymore.

What if the user removes the infringement?

Please note: We are not the judge. We exercise little discretion in this process other than determining whether the notices meet the minimum requirements of the DMCA. It is up to the parties and their lawyers to evaluate the merit of their claims, bearing in mind that notices must be made under penalty of perjury. However, we understand that legal proceedings is not what both parties seek. We want to get this out of the way as easily as possible.

The user has the opportunity to make changes to his file and remove the alleged copyright infringement. He can then ask for the new file to be approved again if he assures us that the copyright infringement has been removed. In such a case, we inform the sender of the DMCA complaint that the copyright infringement has been removed and the user has uploaded a new file. The complainant can review this new file and decide if they want to uphold the complaint if they think the copyright infringement has not been removed, or if they want to drop the complaint, with the consequence that access to the new file will be re-enabled. If the complainant ignores further correspondence, we will consider the uploaded file to be a new file, and, if necessary, a new complaint must be filed.

What if the user appeals against the complaint?

Sometimes, the uploader believes his content was removed or disabled as a result of a mistake or misidentification and does not constitute a copyright infringement. We will then notify the complainant of this. In such a case, we share the complaining party's contact information (email address) with the user so that direct contact can be made for further discussion between both parties. Please note: We are not the judge and we are not allowed to interfere or take sides. Any communication is up to the parties. Either the complaining party informs us that they want to drop the complaint, or the complaining party continues to adhere to their complaint and does not engage in discussion with the user. In the latter case where the complaint is still uphold, we ask the user to file a formal DMCA Counter Notice as required by law if they still believe their content has been removed for no reason. Please read "DMCA Counter Notices" in this matter. If the user files a DMCA Counter Notice which complies with all legal requirements, the law requires us to wait 14 days and then re-enable the content unless the copyright owner initiates a legal action against the user before then. From that point on, it's up to the parties to solve the matter in court.

What is your repeat infringer policy?

In accordance with the DMCA, we have adopted a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances and in the sole discretion of X-Plane.to, members who are deemed to be repeat copyright infringers. We may also in our sole discretion limit access to the Site and/or terminate the account of any member who infringes upon any intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement.

DMCA Counter Notices

This guide describes the information that X-Plane.to needs in order to process a counter notice to a DMCA takedown request. If you believe your content was mistakenly disabled by a DMCA takedown request, you have the right to contest the takedown by submitting a counter notice. If you do, we will wait 14 days and then re-enable your content unless the copyright owner initiates a legal action against you before then. As with all legal matters, it is always best to consult with a professional about your specific questions or situation. We strongly encourage you to do so before taking any action that might impact your rights. This guide isn't legal advice and shouldn't be taken as such.

Important: False Statements

The DMCA requires that you swear to your counter notice under penalty of perjury. It is a federal crime to intentionally lie in a sworn declaration - see U.S. Code, Title 18, Section 1621. Submitting false information could also result in civil liability — that is, you could get sued for money damages. In order to file a counter notice, you must have "a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled".

We require you to fill out all fields of a counter notice completely, because a counter notice is a legal statement — not just to us, but to the complaining party. As we mentioned above, if the complaining party wishes to keep the content disabled after receiving a counter notice, they will need to initiate a legal action seeking a court order to restrain you from engaging in infringing activity relating to the content on X-Plane.to. In other words, you might get sued. X-Plane.to. exercises little discretion in this process other than determining whether the notices meet the minimum requirements of the DMCA. It is up to the parties and their lawyers to evaluate the merit of their claims, bearing in mind that notices must be made under penalty of perjury.

What must my counter notice include?

You can send your DMCA Counter Notice via [email protected] or via Flightsim E-Commerce, Carl-Zeiss-Straße 9, 55129 Mainz, Germany. If you must send your notice by physical mail, you can do that too, but it will take substantially longer for us to receive and respond to it. For faster processing, we recommend using e-mail delivery.
  • 1 Identify the work you believe has been removed by mistake. The link to the file or content that has been removed.
  • 2 A presice description of why you think that the content has been removed by mistake. If you think of your counter notice as a "note" to the complaining party, this is a chance to explain why they should not take the next step and file a lawsuit in response.
  • 4 Your Contact Information. This includes your full name, address, telephone number and email address.
  • 5 Include the following statement: "I swear, under penalty of perjury, that I have a good-faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of a mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled."
  • 6 Also include the following statement: "I consent to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which my address is located, and I will accept service of process from the person who provided the DMCA notification or an agent of such person."
  • 7 Sign your counter notice by your full first and last name.

What is your response to a valid counter notice?

If a copyright owner wishes to keep the content disabled after receiving a counter notice, they will need to initiate a legal action seeking a court order to restrain the user from engaging in infringing activity relating to the content on X-Plane.to. In other words, you might get sued. If the copyright owner does not give X-Plane.to notice within 14 days, by sending a copy of a valid legal complaint filed in a court of competent jurisdiction, X-Plane.to will re-enable the disabled content.