Copyright & Takedown

What happens on our service

Users upload their own photographs to be turned into patterns. Those files are private to the user's account and are not published by us. A user can choose to publish a finished pattern to our public catalogue; that ability is currently restricted to administrators.

This means that in most cases the material you are looking for is not visible to the public. We will still act on a valid notice: an infringing copy stored in a private account is still an infringing copy.

Sending a notice

Send your complaint to [email protected] with the subject line "Copyright notice". Email is considerably faster, but a notice by post is equally valid. The address is on our Imprint page.

So that we can act on it, your notice must include all of the following:

• Identification of the copyrighted work you say has been infringed: a link to the original, or a description clear enough to identify it.
• Identification of the material on Artwello you are complaining about, with enough detail for us to find it: the page URL, the pattern link, or the account concerned.
• Your contact details: name, postal address, telephone number and email address.
• A statement that you believe in good faith that the use is not authorised by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
• A statement that the information in your notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or authorised to act on the owner's behalf.
• Your physical or electronic signature.

What we do with it

We acknowledge notices promptly and normally act within a few business days. If the notice is valid we remove or disable access to the material, and we notify the user who uploaded it, telling them what was removed, why, and how to respond.

An incomplete notice slows everything down. We will come back to you for the missing part rather than act on a complaint we cannot verify.

Please do not send a notice about material you do not own the rights to, or about a use that is permitted by law. Misrepresenting infringement can make you liable for the costs and damages it causes.

If your content was removed

If we removed something of yours and you believe that was a mistake, or that the use was authorised or permitted by law, you can send a counter-notice to the same address. Include: identification of the removed material and where it was, your contact details, a statement under penalty of perjury that you believe in good faith it was removed as a result of a mistake or misidentification, and your signature.

We will pass the counter-notice to the complainant. If they do not tell us within 10 business days that they have started legal proceedings, we may restore the material.

Repeat infringers

We close the accounts of users who repeatedly infringe other people's rights. Whether someone counts as a repeat infringer is a judgement we make on the facts, taking into account the number of valid notices, whether they were contested, and whether the user changed their behaviour after the first one.

Other rights

This procedure is about copyright. If your complaint concerns a trade mark, your image or privacy, defamation, or anything else, write to the same address and describe the problem. The formal requirements above are specific to copyright, and we will not turn away a legitimate complaint because it arrived in the wrong shape.

Content that breaks our rules in other ways should be reported under our Acceptable Use Policy, at [email protected].