Indiegogo takes intellectual property rights very seriously. Since Indiegogo is an open platform, you may find campaign products, ideas, or company names similar to yours. This article outlines how Indiegogo processes intellectual property disputes.
Disclaimer: This article does not constitute as legal advice. We recommend for you to consult with your attorney before submitting a formal notice of infringement takedown request.
The take down request should only be submitted by the intellectual property owner, or an authorized representative.
Copyright
As the first step, we recommend for you to reach out to the campaign owner first and let them know they are infringing on your copyright. Most of the time you can resolve this issue before contacting us! You can do so by leaving a private comment in the Comments tab on the campaign page, or reach out to them via social media.
The alternative option is for you to send us a DMCA takedown request.
How do I report a copyright violation?
If you believe that your copyrighted work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (“DMCA”) rights and is accessible via the Service or in connection with our promotion of the Service, please submit a complete complaint to copyright@indiegogo.com.
For your claim to be valid, your complaint must contain the following
- A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed (“complainant”).
- Identification of the infringed work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple infringed works at a single online website are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that website.
- Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit Indiegogo to locate the material.
- Information reasonably sufficient to permit Indiegogo to contact the complainant, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complainant may be contacted.
- A statement that the complainant has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the intellectual property owner, its agent, or the law.
- A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complainant is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
What happens after Indiegogo receives the notice?
When Indiegogo receives a completed infringement take down notice, Indiegogo will review the complaint and may remove the infringing content or disable users access to the campaign in violation. We will forward a copy of the complaint to the campaign owner, along with the complainant’s contact information.
I want to dispute the infringement notice!
If you believe that your material has been removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification after reviewing the Notice of Infringement, you will have 5 business days from your receipt of the Notice of Infringement to dispute the claims. You can do so by submitting a Counter Notice.
In order for the Counter Notice to be valid, it must include:
- A physical or electronic signature of the owner or authorized user of material;
- Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled;
- A statement made under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material; and
- Your name, address, telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if your address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that you will accept service of process from the complainant or an agent of such person.
What happens next?
After Indiegogo has received your completed Counter Notice, we will forward the Counter Notice to the complainant. The complainant has 15 business days to let Indiegogo know they have filed legal actions against your campaign. Otherwise we will restore your campaign back to it original form.
Trademarks and Patents
This campaign owner is violating my trademark/patent intellectual property!
If you think someone is infringing on your trademark or patent, we want to know about it. Unfortunately we are unable to help mediate your dispute with the campaign owner, but we want to help you get the conversation with the campaign owner off the ground. To file an infringement complaint, please provide the following to copyright@indiegogo.com:
- A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed (“complainant”).
- Identification of the infringed work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple infringed works at a single online website are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that website.
- Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit Indiegogo to locate the material.
- Information reasonably sufficient to permit Indiegogo to contact the complainant, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complainant may be contacted.
- A statement that the complainant has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the intellectual property owner, its agent, or the law.
- A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complainant is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
What happens next after I sent you my letter of complaint?
After we have received your completed complaint, we will forward it in full to the campaign owner. We will also provide the campaign owner’s contact information to you so you directly follow up with the campaign team regarding your complaint.