Copyright and Takedown

Quick read: WebForger is a hosting provider. Our customers are responsible for the content they publish. If you believe content on a WebForger-hosted site infringes your copyright, send a takedown notice to copyright@webforger.ai with the elements listed in section 3. We will acknowledge promptly, pass the notice to the customer, and remove or disable access to the material where the law requires it. Bad-faith notices have legal consequences.

1. Our role and statutory basis

WebForger acts as a hosting and caching provider. We do not select, edit, modify or originate the content our customers publish. Under the New Zealand Copyright Act 1994, sections 92B and 92C, we rely on the safe harbour available to internet service providers who host third-party content and respond appropriately to takedown notices. Equivalent regimes apply where relevant: 17 U.S.C. §512 (the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act, "DMCA"), the Copyright Act 1968 (Australia) safe harbour for service providers, and Article 6 of the EU Digital Services Act.

This policy describes the single process we use to handle copyright notices regardless of the rights-holder's jurisdiction. Where a particular regime requires more (for example, DMCA counter-notice timing), we follow that regime's specific rule.

2. Before you file a notice

Please consider whether the matter is genuinely a copyright issue. Some common situations are not:

• Trademark, brand or logo disputes. Send those to legal@webforger.ai; we forward genuine disputes to the customer but generally do not adjudicate trademark questions.
• Defamation or privacy complaints. Use abuse@webforger.ai with the relevant evidence; the process in our Acceptable Use Policy applies.
• Fair dealing, fair use, or licensed content. If the use is plausibly within an exception or is licensed (including most stock-photo, font-licence, or open-source uses), the safer first step is to contact the site operator directly.
• Public-record material or your own data. Copyright protects original expression, not facts or contact details. A privacy or data-correction request, not a copyright notice, is the right tool.

You should also consider contacting the site operator first; many issues resolve faster that way and our process exists for situations where direct contact has not worked.

3. How to file a takedown notice

A valid notice must include all of the following, in writing (email is fine):

1. Your identity. Full legal name, organisation (if applicable), postal address, email address and a daytime phone number.
2. The work claimed to be infringed. A clear description of the copyrighted work, with a URL, registration number or copy attached where available. If a single notice covers multiple works, list each one.
3. The infringing material. The exact URL or URLs on the WebForger-hosted site where the material appears. "The whole site" or vague descriptions are not enough.
4. Good-faith statement. A statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorised by the rights-holder, an agent, or the law (including any exceptions such as fair dealing or fair use).
5. Accuracy statement. A statement that the information in the notice is accurate, and that you are the rights-holder or are authorised to act on the rights-holder's behalf, signed under penalty of perjury (or the local equivalent affirmation).
6. Signature. A physical or electronic signature.

Send the notice to copyright@webforger.ai. We will acknowledge within two business days. Notices that omit a required element will be returned with a short explanation; we cannot act on incomplete notices.

4. What we do when we receive a notice

• Acknowledge. We confirm receipt and assign a reference number.
• Forward to the customer. We pass the notice to the customer who operates the affected site, with the full text and your contact details, so they can either remove the material themselves or respond.
• Disable or remove material. Where the notice is facially valid and the law requires expeditious action, we may disable or remove the specific material before any reply from the customer. For clear cases (verbatim copies of registered works, identical brand assets) we usually do this within 24 to 72 hours of receipt.
• Inform you of the action. We tell you what we did and when. We may pass on the customer's reply where it is relevant to the matter and the customer agrees to direct contact.
• Record the action. The notice, our action, and the customer's response are recorded against the customer's account. Repeat occurrences may trigger termination under section 7.

We do not adjudicate disputed factual or legal questions. If you and the site operator disagree on whether the use is licensed, on fair dealing, or on the chain of title, the dispute belongs in a court or other competent forum, not at WebForger.

5. Counter-notice (if you are the customer)

If your content was disabled following a takedown notice and you believe the notice is wrong, mistaken or directed at material you are entitled to use, you may submit a counter-notice. A valid counter-notice must include:

1. Your full legal name, postal address, email address and phone number.
2. Identification of the material that was disabled, with the URL where it appeared.
3. A statement, under penalty of perjury, that you have a good-faith belief the material was disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification.
4. A statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the courts of New Zealand, or where DMCA procedures apply, the courts in the United States district where you reside (or any judicial district in which WebForger may be found if you reside outside the United States).
5. Your physical or electronic signature.

Send the counter-notice to copyright@webforger.ai. Where the DMCA applies, we will forward the counter-notice to the original complainant; if the complainant has not filed a court action seeking to restrain the activity within 10 to 14 business days, we may restore the material. Under New Zealand and Australian regimes the timing differs; we will notify you of the applicable schedule when we acknowledge your counter-notice.

6. Bad-faith and abusive notices

Submitting a takedown notice that contains a knowing material misrepresentation has legal consequences. Under DMCA §512(f) the sender may be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees) suffered by the alleged infringer or by us as the service provider. Under the New Zealand Copyright Act and equivalent overseas regimes, similar misuse remedies apply.

We will refuse to process notices that are manifestly abusive (for example, used to silence a competitor's lawful comparative review, or to remove material the sender does not own), and we may pursue remedies in our own right where the abuse causes us cost or damage.

7. Repeat infringer policy

Customers who receive multiple valid takedown notices in respect of separate works will be considered repeat infringers and may have their accounts suspended or terminated, with no entitlement to a refund of fees paid for the affected period. We weigh the seriousness of each notice and the customer's response when deciding whether the threshold is met; in practice, three valid notices on separate matters within a 12-month period is the working benchmark.

8. AI-generated content

WebForger provides AI-assisted drafting tools. The customer directs the prompts and decides what to publish; the customer is the publisher of the resulting site. Where a takedown notice concerns AI-generated text or imagery, the same process applies: the customer is responsible for substantiating the lawfulness of the published material, and we apply this policy regardless of how the material was produced.

9. Trademarks and other intellectual property

Trademarks are not copyright. If a WebForger-hosted site uses your registered or unregistered trademark in a way you believe is infringing, send a written notice to legal@webforger.ai describing the mark, the registration (if any), and the URL of the offending use. We forward genuine notices to the customer and may suspend specific pages where the use is plainly counterfeit or impersonatory; we generally do not adjudicate substantive trademark questions and the dispute belongs in a court or trademark office.

10. Contact and designated agent

Copyright notices and counter-notices: copyright@webforger.ai
Trademark and other IP notices: legal@webforger.ai
AUP and abuse reports: abuse@webforger.ai
General contact: hello@webforger.ai
Postal: Always Digital Limited (trading as HornTech / WebForger), Auckland, New Zealand.

For DMCA purposes, our designated agent is the email address above. We are not a US-domiciled entity and have not registered with the U.S. Copyright Office; we accept DMCA-formatted notices in good faith and follow the substantive process described in this policy.

Document version: 1.0, 29 April 2026.