DMCA
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Rubytee is a store built on printed designs, so we take copyright seriously, both our own and everyone else’s. This page explains how to tell us if you believe something on rubytee.com infringes a copyright you own or represent, what information a notice needs, how we respond, and how a person whose content was removed can respond. Trademark, design-right and other intellectual property concerns are handled under our Intellectual Property Policy.
At a glance
- Send copyright notices to support@rubytee.com with the subject line “Copyright notice”.
- Include all six elements listed in section 3 so we can act without delay.
- We review complete notices within 5 business days and remove or disable material that infringes.
- People whose content was removed can send a counter-notification (section 6).
- Knowingly false notices can lead to legal liability (section 7).
1. Who we are and what this page covers
Rubytee is an online store at rubytee.com, operated from 6085 Hogan Dam Road, Valley Springs, CA 95252, United States. We sell T-shirts printed with designs that are either created for Rubytee or used under licence. This page covers any material published on our site, including:
- printed designs and artwork shown on our T-shirts and in product images;
- product photographs, mock-ups and lifestyle images;
- product descriptions, category descriptions, help pages and any articles we publish;
- content submitted by customers, such as review text and photos.
The process follows the notice-and-takedown procedure of the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512). We apply the same process to notices from rights owners in other countries, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand, because we want every legitimate concern handled the same careful way.
2. Before you send a notice
Copyright protects original creative expression, such as a drawing, a photograph or a piece of writing. It does not protect short phrases, common slogans, simple shapes, general ideas or styles. Many T-shirts use similar everyday phrases or themes, such as a holiday greeting or a sports motif, and similarity alone is not infringement. Before sending a notice, consider whether the material on our site actually reproduces your protected work, and whether the use might be authorized or permitted by law, for example as fair use. If you are unsure, you may want to get legal advice first.
If your concern is about a brand name, logo or slogan used as a trademark, please use the process in our Intellectual Property Policy instead; it is designed for those cases and asks for the right information.
3. What a copyright notice must include
Your notice must be in writing and include all of the following:
- A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or of a person authorized to act on the owner’s behalf. A typed full name at the end of an email is accepted as an electronic signature.
- Identification of the copyrighted work you say is infringed. If several works are involved, a representative list is acceptable. A link to where the original work is published, or a copy of it, helps us compare quickly.
- Identification of the material you say is infringing, with enough detail for us to find it: the exact page URL or URLs on rubytee.com and, for a product, the design name and the specific image.
- Your contact information: full name, postal address, telephone number and email address.
- A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law.
- A statement that the information in the notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on the owner’s behalf.
Send the notice to support@rubytee.com with the subject line “Copyright notice”, or by post to Rubytee, 6085 Hogan Dam Road, Valley Springs, CA 95252, United States. Email is fastest. Notices missing any of the elements above may be delayed while we ask for the missing information.
4. What happens after we receive a notice
| Step | What we do | Typical timing |
|---|---|---|
| Acknowledgement | We confirm we have received your notice. | Within 1 business day |
| Completeness check | We check that all six required elements are present and ask for anything missing. | Within 1 business day |
| Review | We compare the material with the work you identified. | Within 5 business days of a complete notice |
| Action | If the notice is valid, we remove the material or disable access to it, including withdrawing an affected product from sale. | As soon as the review is complete |
| Confirmation | We email you to confirm what we did, or explain why we did not act. | Same day as the action |
If the material was submitted by a customer, such as a review photo, we also tell that person the content was removed and why. Where the law allows, we share a copy of your notice with them, so they can respond if they believe it was a mistake. We may also forward notices to organizations that collect and publish takedown notices for transparency, with your personal contact details removed.
5. What it means for products
When a valid notice concerns a printed design, we stop selling the affected product and remove its images from the site. We do not knowingly keep selling a design after we have accepted that it infringes. If customers have orders in progress for that design, we contact them, cancel the affected items and refund them in full within 7 calendar days. We do not ask rights owners to deal with our customers; that is our responsibility.
6. Counter-notification
If content you submitted to our site was removed because of a copyright notice, and you believe that was a mistake or a misidentification, you may send us a counter-notification. It must include:
- Your physical or electronic signature.
- Identification of the material that was removed and where it appeared before removal.
- A statement, under penalty of perjury, that you have a good-faith belief the material was removed as a result of a mistake or misidentification.
- 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 you are outside the United States, any judicial district in which Rubytee may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the person who sent the original notice or their agent.
We forward a valid counter-notification to the person who sent the original notice. If they do not tell us within 10 to 14 business days that they have filed a court action to restrain the activity, we may restore the material.
7. False or misleading notices
Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), any person 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. Please make sure your notice or counter-notification is accurate. Sending notices to remove legitimate content, for example to harm a competitor, is a misuse of this process.
8. Repeat infringement
We remove content from, and may close the accounts of, people who repeatedly submit infringing material to our site. We also review our own design sources if a pattern of valid notices points to a supplier problem, and stop working with sources that do not respect copyright.
9. How we prevent infringement in the first place
We would rather prevent a problem than fix one. Before a design goes on sale at Rubytee, we confirm that it was created for us or that we hold the rights to use it. We do not sell unofficial versions of sports team logos, film and television characters, band artwork or other brands, and we do not use photographs or artwork found online without permission. Even so, mistakes can happen, which is why this process exists and why we respond quickly.
10. A sample notice
To make the process easier, here is an example of the kind of information a complete notice contains. You do not have to use this wording, as long as every required element is present.
- Subject: Copyright notice — design on rubytee.com
- Original work: “Mountain Sunrise” illustration, first published on my portfolio site on a stated date (link and image attached).
- Material on your site: the product page URL, front print shown in the first product image.
- Contact details: full name, postal address, phone number and email address.
- Good-faith statement: “I have a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law.”
- Accuracy statement: “The information in this notice is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, I am the owner, or authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of the copyright that is allegedly infringed.”
- Signature: typed full name and date.
11. Frequently asked questions about copyright notices
Do I need a lawyer to send a notice?
No. Anyone who owns a copyright, or is authorized to act for the owner, can send a notice. You may still choose to get legal advice, especially if you are unsure whether the use is infringing.
Will the person whose content is removed see my details?
If the material was submitted by a customer, they may receive a copy of the notice so they can respond. Where the law allows, we withhold your personal contact details. Product designs are published by Rubytee itself, so in that case the notice stays with us.
Can I report a design I think copies someone else’s work?
Only the copyright owner or their authorized agent can send a formal notice. If you think a design copies another creator’s work, you are welcome to tell us informally, and we will look into it.
12. Reporting other problems
This page is only for copyright. For a trademark, design or right-of-publicity concern, see our Intellectual Property Policy. For questions about an order, visit the Help Center. For questions about how we handle your personal information, see our Privacy Policy.
13. Contact
For copyright matters, email support@rubytee.com with the subject “Copyright notice”, or write to Rubytee, 6085 Hogan Dam Road, Valley Springs, CA 95252, United States. For anything else, visit Contact Us. Our Terms of Service also explain how content on the site may be used.