DMCA

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Field and Reel sells printed apparel and gifts, which means artwork is at the heart of what we do. We take copyright seriously in both directions: we protect our own designs, and we respond quickly when someone tells us that something on our site may copy theirs. This page explains how to send us a copyright notice under the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), what we do when we receive one, how the person who submitted the content can respond, and how we handle repeat problems. It covers copyright only. For trademarks, design ownership and how our own artwork may be used, see our Intellectual Property Policy. Notices can be sent to [email protected].

At a glance

  • Who can send a notice: the copyright owner or someone authorised to act for them.
  • Where to send it: by email to [email protected] with the subject “DMCA notice”, or by post to Fieldandreel, 6910 Scholl Road, Franklin, OH 45005, United States.
  • What to include: the six elements listed in section 2.
  • Our response: we acknowledge complete notices within 1 business day and remove or disable the listed material promptly while we review it.
  • Counter-notices: possible for content submitted by a customer, as described in section 5.
  • False claims: knowingly misrepresenting infringement can make the sender liable for damages.

1. What this page covers

This process applies to material on fieldandreel.com that you believe infringes a copyright you own or are authorised to protect. On our site, that could include:

  • artwork printed on a product or shown in a product image or mock-up;
  • photographs, illustrations or graphics used on product pages, category pages, banners or articles;
  • text, such as product descriptions or articles;
  • personalization text or images submitted by a customer for printing, where it reproduces someone else’s work, such as song lyrics or a protected illustration.

If your concern is about a trademark, such as a team name, a logo or a brand name, the DMCA does not apply, but we still want to hear from you. Please follow the trademark process in our Intellectual Property Policy. If your concern is about a product you bought from us, such as a print defect, please see the Returns & Exchanges Policy instead.

2. How to send a copyright notice

To be effective, your notice must be in writing and include the following information. Notices that are missing one of these elements may delay our response, because we may need to ask for the missing part before we can act.

  1. Your signature: a physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or of a person authorised to act on their behalf. Typing your full legal name at the end of an email is accepted as an electronic signature.
  2. The work: identification of the copyrighted work you believe has been infringed. If several works are involved, a representative list is acceptable. A link to where the original is published, or a copy of it, helps us compare.
  3. The material on our site: identification of the material you believe infringes, with enough detail for us to find it. The best way is the full URL of each product or page, plus a description of which image or design element you mean.
  4. Your contact details: your name, postal address, telephone number and email address.
  5. Good-faith statement: a statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorised by the copyright owner, its agent or the law.
  6. Accuracy statement: a statement that the information in the notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or are authorised to act on the owner’s behalf.

Send the notice by email to [email protected] with the subject line “DMCA notice”, or by post to Fieldandreel, 6910 Scholl Road, Franklin, OH 45005, United States. Email is much faster. Please send one notice per rights holder; if you represent several rights holders, list each one clearly.

3. What we do when we receive a notice

How a copyright notice is handled
Step What happens Typical timing
Acknowledgement We confirm receipt and check that the notice is complete. Within 1 business day
Removal We remove or disable access to the material identified, including the product listing and its images. Promptly after a complete notice
Print queue check We stop printing any open orders that use the identified design. At the same time as removal
Notification If the material was submitted by a customer, we tell them and send a copy of the notice, with personal contact details removed where appropriate. After removal
Review We review our records of how the design was created or licensed and reply to you with the outcome. As soon as the review is complete

If our records show that the work was created independently or that we hold a licence, we explain this to you. We may restore the material if we are satisfied the notice was mistaken, but we will tell you before doing so, so that you can provide further information. Customers who already received items made with the disputed design are not affected by a removal, and we do not contact them unless the law requires it.

4. Our own designs and how they are made

Field and Reel designs are created for our store or licensed for our use, and we do not knowingly use artwork copied from other sellers, artists or brands. Our designs are about fish species, hunting seasons, lakes, rivers and outdoor life, which are common themes, and similar ideas do not by themselves mean copying. A bass jumping out of water is not owned by anyone; a specific drawing of one is. When we review a notice, we compare the actual expression of the work, such as composition, line work, colours and wording, not just the subject. We value notices that point to specific similarities, because they let us reach a fair decision quickly.

5. Counter-notification for content you submitted

If material you submitted for printing, such as personalization text or an image, was removed after a notice and you believe the removal was a mistake or misidentification, you may send a counter-notification. It must include:

  1. your physical or electronic signature;
  2. identification of the material that was removed and where it appeared before removal;
  3. a statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief the material was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification;
  4. your name, address and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for the judicial district in which your address is located (or, if your address is outside the United States, any judicial district in which we may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the person who sent the original notice or their agent.

When we receive a complete counter-notification, we forward it to the person who sent the original notice. If that person does not tell us within 10 business days that they have filed a court action to restrain the activity, we may restore the material within 10 to 14 business days after receiving the counter-notification. In practice, if a personalization request is disputed, we usually refund the item and suggest different text rather than print disputed content.

6. False or misleading notices

Please make sure you own the rights, or are authorised to act for the owner, before sending a notice. Under the DMCA, anyone who knowingly and materially misrepresents that material is infringing, or that it was removed by mistake, may be liable for damages, including costs and attorneys’ fees. If you are unsure whether a use infringes your rights, for example because it may be a parody, commentary or simply a similar idea, you may want to seek legal advice first. We are happy to discuss concerns informally before a formal notice is sent.

7. Repeat infringement

We do not allow repeat infringement. If a customer repeatedly submits personalization content that is the subject of valid copyright notices, we may refuse further personalization orders from that customer and close their account. If a design source repeatedly proves to be infringing, we stop using it and review all designs from that source. We keep records of notices and their outcomes so we can apply this rule consistently.

8. Notices outside the United States

We ship to Canada, Australia and New Zealand as well as the United States. Copyright owners in those countries can use the same process described here, and we will consider notices made under local law in the same way, provided they give us the information we need to identify the work and the material. Nothing on this page limits any right you have under the law of your own country.

9. Privacy of notices

Copyright notices and counter-notifications contain personal information. We use it only to handle the notice, forward it as described above and keep records. When we forward a notice to a customer, we may remove personal contact details that are not needed. Our Privacy Policy explains how we store and protect personal information.

10. Examples of what we act on and what we do not

  • We act on: an illustrator shows that one of our walleye designs reproduces her published drawing line for line, with the same pose, scale pattern and lettering. We remove the listing and stop open print jobs while we review.
  • We act on: a customer asks us to print the chorus of a popular country song on a fishing shirt, and the songwriter’s publisher sends a notice. We decline the print and refund the order.
  • We review carefully: another seller says they “own” duck-hunting shirts with the phrase “Opening Day”. A common phrase or theme is not protected by copyright, so we ask for the specific artwork that was copied.
  • Different process: a sports team says a design uses its logo. That is a trademark question, handled through our Intellectual Property Policy.

11. Contact

Send copyright notices and counter-notifications to [email protected] with the subject “DMCA notice” or “DMCA counter-notice”, or by post to Fieldandreel, 6910 Scholl Road, Franklin, OH 45005, United States. For general questions, visit our Contact Us page or the Help Center.