Copyright and takedown

Status: DRAFT — FOR LEGAL REVIEW
Version: 0.2
Date: 2026-10-18
Owner: Head of Trust & Safety / Legal Counsel
Jurisdiction: Canada (operating company); EU users served under the DSA and GDPR; market neutral; with US DMCA safe harbor conformance
Applicable law: Copyright Act (Canada); for EU users, Directive (EU) 2019/790 (DSM Directive), in particular Art. 17, Directive 2001/29/EC (InfoSoc Directive) and Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (DSA) Arts. 16–17; 17 U.S.C. § 512 (DMCA) for US rightsholders
Reviewed by counsel: [pending]

This document is a draft prepared for review by qualified counsel with expertise in Canadian and EU copyright law and US DMCA safe harbor compliance. It sets out Aurora's procedure for handling notices of copyright infringement and related counter-notices. It operates alongside — not in place of — Aurora's broader DSA Notice and Action Procedure (dsa-notice-action.md), which remains the primary mechanism for allegations of illegal content including IP infringement under Art. 16 DSA.

1. Purpose and Scope

Aurora is an online content-sharing service / hosting intermediary. User-generated content on Aurora — principally photos, video clips, and textual biographies — may implicate copyright or related rights, and Aurora provides this procedure so that rightsholders can obtain removal of infringing content and affected users can contest such removal.

This procedure applies to:

• Profile photos and video clips uploaded by providers.
• Profile bios, descriptions, and other textual content.
• Attachments sent through messaging (only where a participant in the conversation reports the material, because messages are end-to-end encrypted).
• Aurora-authored editorial content is excluded and handled internally.

For allegations that content is illegal for reasons other than copyright — for example, non-consensual intimate imagery, defamation, or trafficking indicators — use the DSA Notice and Action Procedure (dsa-notice-action.md). Where an allegation involves both copyright and another illegality (e.g., NCII involving stolen photos), both procedures may apply.

2. Legal Framework

• Directive (EU) 2019/790 (DSM Directive), Art. 17 — Aurora is likely to qualify as an "online content-sharing service provider" (OCSSP) only if its main purpose is storing and giving public access to a large amount of copyright-protected content uploaded by users for profit-making purposes. Aurora's primary purpose is a regulated companion directory, not a content-sharing service, and therefore Art. 17's liability framework applies, at most, in a limited way. Aurora nevertheless implements Art. 17-aligned best efforts for authorisation, stay-down, and redress to the extent applicable.
• Directive 2001/29/EC (InfoSoc) — provides the underlying framework for reproduction, communication to the public, and exceptions.
• Copyright Act (Canada) — the law of Aurora's home jurisdiction. How its provisions on hosting intermediaries and infringement notices map onto this procedure is to be confirmed by Canadian counsel.
• DSA Arts. 16–17 (EU) 2022/2065 — notice-and-action and statement-of-reasons obligations. Copyright notices are a subset of "notices" under Art. 16.
• 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3) (DMCA) — for US rightsholders seeking the benefit of the US safe-harbor procedure, Aurora accepts notices that comply with the US statutory formalities and follows the counter-notice procedure under § 512(g). Aurora's participation in the DMCA scheme does not subject Aurora to US jurisdiction.

3. Designated Agent

Aurora designates a single agent to receive notices of alleged copyright infringement:

Designated Copyright Agent
[Registered company name]
Attn. Designated Copyright Agent
[Registered address]
[Province], Canada
Email: [email protected] (stub — to be provisioned)

US DMCA registration: Aurora will register its Designated Agent with the United States Copyright Office under 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(2) before making the Platform available to US users in any material way. The Copyright Office agent directory entry will be kept current.

4. Notice Requirements

To be effective, a notice must include substantially the following, consistent with both 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3)(A) and Art. 16(2) DSA:

1. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed — or, where multiple works at a single site are covered by a single notice, a representative list of those works. (DMCA 512(c)(3)(A)(ii))
2. Identification of the allegedly infringing material with enough specificity — for Aurora, the exact URL(s) of the content on auroramembers.com — to permit Aurora to locate it. (DMCA 512(c)(3)(A)(iii); DSA Art. 16(2)(b))
3. Contact information for the complaining party — name, postal address, telephone number, and email. (DMCA 512(c)(3)(A)(iv); DSA Art. 16(2)(c))
4. A statement that the complaining party has a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorised by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law. (DMCA 512(c)(3)(A)(v))
5. A statement that the information in the notice is accurate, and under penalty of perjury (under US law) or equivalent bona fide statement (under Canadian or EU law) that the complaining party is authorised to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed. (DMCA 512(c)(3)(A)(vi); DSA Art. 16(2)(d))
6. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorised to act on behalf of the owner. (DMCA 512(c)(3)(A)(i))
7. Basis in Union or Member State law, if the notice is submitted under the DSA or DSM framework — identify the law and the nature of the right (reproduction, communication to the public, etc.), and any known defences the uploader might raise (exceptions, licensing, fair dealing), so that Aurora can apply a proportionality assessment consistent with Art. 17(7) DSM.

Aurora publishes a fillable form at auroramembers.com/copyright (stub) that collects these elements. Notices that lack substantially all of the required elements are not effective to create "knowledge" under § 512(c)(1)(A) or Art. 6/16 DSA; Aurora will contact the notifier to request the missing elements.

5. Processing and Timelines

Aurora processes copyright notices under the DSA Notice and Action timelines (dsa-notice-action.md §5), with the following specifics for copyright:

Aurora applies proportionality: a single alleged infringement does not result in an account-level ban absent a pattern.

6. Action on a Valid Notice

On receipt of a valid notice, Aurora will:

1. Expeditiously remove or disable access to the content identified in the notice, across the Platform, including cached copies where technically possible.
2. Notify the user who uploaded the content, forwarding a copy of the notice (with contact details of the complainant as provided — users are informed that they may request redaction where applicable under GDPR, subject to the complainant's right under § 512(c)(3)(A)(iv)).
3. Record the action in the moderation_events append-only log.
4. Count the strike against the user for purposes of the repeat-infringer policy (Section 8).

Where Aurora has a reasonable basis to doubt the validity of the notice (for example, the material appears to be licensed to the user, or the complaint is manifestly unfounded), Aurora will document its reasoning and may decline to take action, notifying the complainant of the basis for the decision.

Aurora will apply, to the extent relevant, the Art. 17(7) DSM Directive safeguards: the removal of the content must not prevent the availability of legitimate uses, including uses authorised by exceptions or limitations (quotation, criticism, review, caricature, parody, pastiche).

7. Counter-Notice Process

A user whose content has been removed or disabled under Section 6 may submit a counter-notice. Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3), a valid counter-notice must include:

1. A physical or electronic signature of the user.
2. Identification of the material removed and the location at which it appeared before removal.
3. A statement under penalty of perjury that the user has a good-faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification.
4. The user's name, postal address, and telephone number, together with a statement consenting to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for the judicial district in which the user resides, or if outside the US, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the user will accept service of process from the original complainant.

Counter-notices must be submitted to the Designated Copyright Agent at the address in Section 3.

7.1 Action on Counter-Notice

Upon receipt of an effective counter-notice, Aurora will:

1. Promptly provide a copy to the original complainant.
2. Inform the complainant that Aurora will replace the removed material or cease disabling access within 10 to 14 business days after receipt of the counter-notice, unless Aurora receives notice from the complainant that they have filed a judicial action seeking a court order to restrain the user from engaging in infringing activity relating to the material on Aurora.
3. Restore the content in accordance with that timeline if no such notice is received, subject to Aurora's independent obligations (for example, if the content also violates the AUP, it remains removed regardless of the copyright disposition).

For notices submitted under EU law only (no DMCA claim), Aurora applies an analogous counter-notice / redress process under DSA Art. 20 (internal complaint) and Art. 21 (out-of-court dispute settlement), with equivalent timelines.

8. Repeat Infringer Policy

Consistent with 17 U.S.C. § 512(i)(1)(A) and Art. 17(4)(c) DSM Directive "best efforts" to prevent the reupload of content that has been subject to a valid removal, Aurora maintains and implements a repeat-infringer policy:

• Strike system. A "strike" is recorded when Aurora takes action on a valid copyright notice that is not subsequently reversed by a successful counter-notice or appeal.
• Three strikes → suspension. Three strikes within a rolling 12-month period result in a 30-day account suspension.
• Five strikes → termination. Five strikes within a rolling 12-month period result in permanent account termination, in appropriate circumstances (§ 512(i)(1)(A)).
• Circumvention. Users attempting to reupload previously-removed content, or creating new accounts to do so, are treated as repeat infringers and terminated on the first recurrence.
• Appeals. Strikes can be appealed through the DSA Art. 20 internal complaint procedure; successful appeals remove the strike.

Aurora takes a proportionality-aware approach: "best efforts" under Art. 17(4) DSM are assessed against Aurora's size, user base, and the type of content at issue, and must not result in the general monitoring obligation expressly excluded by Art. 17(8) DSM.

9. Stay-Down and Content Recognition

Consistent with Art. 17(4)(b) DSM Directive, Aurora makes best efforts to ensure the unavailability of specific works for which rightholders have provided the relevant and necessary information. In practice:

• Where a rightholder provides a hash, fingerprint, or reference copy of a work subject to a valid removal, Aurora stores the identifying information and uses it to prevent re-upload of the identical work (via perceptual hashing).
• Aurora does not deploy general monitoring or upload-filtering for all content, consistent with Art. 17(8) DSM and Art. 8 DSA.
• The stay-down system has an override path for content legitimately licensed or subject to a counter-notice.

10. Fraudulent and Abusive Notices

Submitting a false or abusive notice may give rise to liability under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f) (knowing material misrepresentation) and under the general civil law of the relevant jurisdiction. Aurora may:

• Reject manifestly unfounded notices.
• Suspend the processing of notices from persistent abusers (DSA Art. 23).
• Notify the affected user, who may pursue remedies against the complainant.
• Cooperate with judicial proceedings brought by affected users.

11. Interaction With the DSA Notice and Action Procedure

This procedure is a copyright-specific specialisation of Aurora's broader DSA Art. 16 procedure. Wherever this document is silent, the DSA Notice and Action Procedure (dsa-notice-action.md) governs — including the definition of a valid notice, acknowledgement timelines, Statement of Reasons obligations, appeals under Art. 20, and out-of-court dispute settlement under Art. 21.

Where a single notice alleges both copyright infringement and another illegality (for example, non-consensual intimate imagery posted without a licence), both procedures apply and the stricter timeline governs (for NCII, typically the 24-hour expedited track).

12. Records and Transparency

Aurora records all copyright notices and their disposition in the moderation_events append-only log, together with anonymised aggregates in the quarterly transparency report (transparency-report-template.md), including:

• Number of copyright notices received.
• Number of notices acted on / rejected / pending.
• Number of counter-notices received and their outcomes.
• Number of repeat-infringer strikes and account suspensions.
• Median response times.

DRAFT — FOR LEGAL REVIEW. This procedure must be reviewed and approved by qualified counsel with Canadian and EU copyright and US DMCA experience before publication. Aurora's Designated Copyright Agent must be registered with the US Copyright Office before the procedure is publicly invoked against US rightsholders.