DMCA Policy

1. Our Copyright Commitment

ohioauditors.org/ publishes practical guides to Ohio's 88 county auditors, the Ohio Auditor of State, and the Ohio Department of Taxation. The vast majority of factual content we publish — agency URLs, statute citations, contact information, lookup procedures, parcel-search field labels, DTE form numbers — is not copyrightable. Where we do use creative content, we either own it, have permission to use it, or use it under fair use (17 U.S.C. §107) with attribution.

If you believe content on the site infringes a copyright you own or control, this page tells you how to ask us to remove it.

2. Ohio Public-Records Carve-Out — Read First

3. Who Can File a Takedown Notice

• The owner of an exclusive copyright right in the allegedly infringed work, or
• A person authorized to act on behalf of the owner (an attorney, agent, or employee with written authorization)

If you are not the owner and do not have written authority, we cannot accept the notice — but we will note the concern and look at it under our editorial-corrections process if it raises a credible question.

4. Required Elements of a DMCA Notice — 17 U.S.C. §512(c)(3)

To be effective under the DMCA, a takedown notice must include all six of the following:

1. Physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive copyright right that is allegedly infringed.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed (or, if multiple works at one site, a representative list).
3. Identification of the allegedly infringing material with sufficient detail for us to locate it — the full URL on ohioauditors.org/ and a description of the specific element claimed to infringe.
4. Contact information — your name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address.
5. A good-faith statement that you believe the use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
6. A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive copyright right that is allegedly infringed.

5. How to Submit a Notice

Send the notice by email to info@ohioauditors.org with the subject line “DMCA Notice.” We acknowledge receipt within five business days.

6. What Happens After You Send a Notice

• Acknowledgment within five business days confirming receipt and noting whether all six §512(c)(3) elements are present
• Editorial review — we look at the cited material and consider whether the notice is well-founded
• Public-records check — before any removal, we confirm the material is not an Ohio public record covered by Section 2 of this policy
• Action where appropriate — if we conclude the material is infringing (and not protected as Ohio public-record reference), we will take it down or replace it
• Notice to the original poster — if a third-party contributor posted the material, we notify them and give them the chance to file a counter-notice under §512(g)

7. Counter-Notice — 17 U.S.C. §512(g)

If your content was removed and you believe the takedown was a mistake or misidentification, you may file a counter-notice. Once we receive a valid counter-notice, we forward it to the original notice sender. The original sender then has 10–14 business days to file a court action seeking an injunction. If they do not, we may restore the content.

8. Counter-Notice Required Elements

A counter-notice must include all of the following:

• Physical or electronic signature of the person filing the counter-notice
• Identification of the material that was removed and the URL where it appeared before removal
• A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief the material was removed by mistake or misidentification
• Your name, address, and telephone number
• A statement consenting to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for the judicial district in which your address is located (or, if outside the U.S., for any judicial district where we may be found), and that you will accept service from the person who provided the original takedown notice

9. Repeat-Infringer Policy — 17 U.S.C. §512(i)

The DMCA’s safe-harbor provisions are conditioned on us adopting and reasonably implementing a policy for terminating, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of users who are repeat infringers. We do that. If a third-party contributor receives multiple substantiated DMCA notices, we may suspend or terminate their access without notice. “Substantiated” means: notices that include all §512(c)(3) elements and where we conclude the material is more likely than not infringing.

10. Misuse — 17 U.S.C. §512(f)

11. Fair Use Considerations

The DMCA does not require us to ignore fair use. Before complying with a takedown notice, we may evaluate whether the use complained of is fair use under 17 U.S.C. §107, considering the purpose of the use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount used, and the effect on the market. Education, criticism, comment, news reporting, and research are commonly fair-use purposes. Where we conclude the use is fair, we may decline the takedown and tell you why.

12. Trademark Complaints

The DMCA addresses copyright, not trademark. If you believe your trademark is being used on the site in a way that creates likelihood of consumer confusion, dilution, or otherwise infringes your trademark rights, send a separate complaint to info@ohioauditors.org with the subject line “Trademark complaint.” Include the trademark, registration number (if any), the URL where the alleged infringement appears, and a description of the alleged infringement.

13. Defamation and Ohio Public Records

Defamation, right-of-publicity, and privacy concerns are not DMCA matters and we cannot resolve them through this procedure. If you believe published content about you is false and defamatory under Ohio defamation law, contact us with the subject line “Defamation concern” and provide the URL, the specific statement you believe is false, and the basis for that belief.

For Ohioans concerned about a published county-auditor record (parcel, valuation, owner name, vendor's-license entry, etc.): ohioauditors.org/ does not host or republish county auditor parcel databases. The record on a county portal is held by that county auditor. Contact the county directly under its ORC §149.43 record-correction procedure. If a county denies a public-records correction request improperly, the Ohio Court of Claims has jurisdiction under ORC §2743.75.

14. Designated Agent for Notification

For DMCA notice purposes, our designated agent receives notices at:

For information on the U.S. Copyright Office’s Directory of DMCA Designated Agents, see copyright.gov/dmca-directory.

15. Contact

For DMCA matters, email info@ohioauditors.org with the appropriate subject line. For general copyright questions that are not DMCA notices, use subject “Copyright inquiry.”