Copyright Policy

People post their own words and images on ShelfClub: reviews, quotes, comments, club chat messages, club names and descriptions, club cover images and profile details. You may only post what you have the right to post. If you believe something on ShelfClub infringes your copyright, tell us and we will act on it. This page explains how, following the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512).

On a review, comment, quote, reading update, chat message, profile or club, open the “…” menu, choose Report and pick Copyright infringement. The report reaches the same people who handle formal notices. If you need the material taken down as a legal matter, or you are not a ShelfClub member, send a written notice as described next.

Send your notice to our designated copyright agent. To be valid it must be in writing and include all of the following:

1. Your physical or electronic signature, as the copyright owner or a person authorised to act for the owner.
2. The copyrighted work you say was infringed (or, for several works, a representative list).
3. The material you say is infringing, and enough detail for us to find it: the page address (URL), and the username or club name where it appears.
4. Your name, postal address, telephone number and email address.
5. A statement that you believe in good faith that the use is not authorised by the copyright owner, its agent or the law.
6. A statement that the information in the notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the owner or are authorised to act for the owner.

Please think before you send: anyone who knowingly makes a false claim that material is infringing can be liable for damages (17 U.S.C. § 512(f)). If you are unsure whether you own the rights, or whether the use is allowed (for example as a short quotation), consider asking a lawyer first.

• We review it, and if it is complete we remove the material or turn off access to it. For an image, that includes the stored file.
• We keep a copy of what was removed, out of public view, for 30 days, so that it can be restored if a counter-notice succeeds. After that it is deleted for good.
• We take reasonable steps to tell the member who posted it, and pass on the notice so they can respond.
• We record the upheld report against that member's account.

If you believe your content was removed by mistake or because it was misidentified, you can send a counter-notice to the same agent. It must be in writing and include:

1. Your physical or electronic signature.
2. The material that was removed and where it appeared before it was removed.
3. A statement, under penalty of perjury, that you believe in good faith the material was removed because of a mistake or misidentification.
4. Your name, postal address and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for the district where your address is (or, if you live outside the United States, any district in which ShelfClub may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the person who sent the original notice.

We send a valid counter-notice to the person who complained. Unless they first tell us that they have filed a court action over the material, we will restore it between 10 and 14 business days after we receive your counter-notice. We hold the removed copy for 30 days from the removal, so send your counter-notice promptly; if the copy has already been deleted by then, you may post the material again yourself.

We terminate, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of members who infringe repeatedly. Each copyright report we uphold is recorded against the account that posted the material, and an account with repeated upheld reports is reviewed for termination. We may also close an account after a single serious infringement. Our Terms of Service say the same.

Book records on ShelfClub (titles, authors, descriptions and cover images) come from public catalogs: Open Library, Google Books, Apple Books and The New York Times. If you are an author or publisher and want a cover or description corrected or removed, write to [email protected] and we will deal with it the same way.

For trademark or other rights, or if you have a question about this policy, email [email protected]. This page describes our process; it is not legal advice.