Copyright + takedown

Our position

Dubrate operates as a marketplace where independent artists upload and sell their own recordings. Every uploader signs a binding attestation that they own or control the rights at the moment of upload. We act in good faith on every infringement notice we receive.

Notice and takedown — UK / CDPA 1988

Under the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002, send a written notice to legal@dubrate.co.uk with the following information:

1. Your full legal name, address, phone number, and email address.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed (track title, your release, ISRC if any).
3. Identification of the infringing material on Dubrate (full URL, screenshot if helpful).
4. A statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorised by the rightsholder.
5. A statement that the information in your notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorised to act on behalf of the rightsholder.
6. Your signature (electronic is fine).

We take down infringing material within 24 hours of a complete notice. The seller is notified and given the chance to file a counter-notice.

A takedown reaches every listener, not just new visitors: once a track is removed we stop serving the audio to the uploading artist, to subscribers, and to customers who already paid for it. That is what disabling access means — we cannot keep a private door open for buyers and still call the recording removed. Buyers keep any copy already downloaded to their own devices, and a buyer affected by a removal should email support@dubrate.co.uk. See Terms 2.1.

Notice and takedown — US / DMCA 17 USC §512

For US-jurisdiction notices, send the same information to our copyright agent. We are not yet listed in the US Copyright Office's Designated Agent Directory, so we do not claim the 17 USC §512(c) safe harbour — we act on every notice we receive regardless.

Dubrate copyright agent
Showday Tickets Ltd
66 Paul Street
London
EC2A 4NA
United Kingdom
Email: legal@dubrate.co.uk

Counter-notice

If your material was removed and you believe the removal was a mistake or misidentification, you may file a counter-notice. Send to legal@dubrate.co.uk:

1. The material that was removed and its previous URL.
2. A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief the material was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification.
3. Your name, address, phone number, and consent to the jurisdiction of the courts where you reside.
4. A statement that you will accept service of process from the claimant.

If the original claimant does not file suit within 10-14 business days of the counter-notice, we will restore the material.

Repeat-infringer policy

Every notice we receive, and what we did about it and when, is kept in our legal correspondence records. There is no automated strike counter: repeat infringement is assessed by hand from those records, by a person, against the seller's whole history with us.

Where the same seller is the subject of repeated notices that are sustained — not withdrawn, and not successfully counter-noticed — we will remove their catalogue and close their seller account. We do not publish a fixed number of notices that triggers this, because a number we could not evidence would be worth nothing to either side. What actually decides it is whether the notices held up and what the seller did after the first one.

While a claim is live we hold the seller's payout instead of running it. Payouts are run by hand in batches (Terms 3.4) and a balance cannot be released in part, so this holds the whole payable balance until the claim is resolved. If the claim is upheld, refunds we make to buyers are recovered from that balance under section 3.5 of the Terms; whatever is left is paid in the next batch.

Because we do not claim the US safe harbours (see above), this is our own policy rather than an implementation of 17 USC §512(i). Buyer accounts that knowingly buy material they have been told is infringing may also be closed.

Bad-faith notices

Submitting a takedown notice you know to be false is a criminal offence in many jurisdictions. We refer abusive notices to the relevant authorities.

Other rights matters

For licensing enquiries, sample-clearance questions, neighbouring rights, or any matter that isn't a takedown, email legal@dubrate.co.ukwith the subject "Rights enquiry — <subject>."