Copyright & DMCA

SpoiledPotato hosts short video reviews of games. We respect copyright and expect the people who post here to do the same. This page explains how to report infringing material, how to respond if yours was removed by mistake, and what happens to accounts that infringe repeatedly.

Designated agent

[Designated DMCA agent name, postal address, email and telephone — TBD. These must be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office's Directory of Designated Agents and published here before this policy takes effect. Until then we cannot validly receive notices at a designated agent, and the safe-harbour protections described below do not apply.]

Reporting infringement

To report material you own the rights to, send our agent a written notice containing all six elements required by 17 U.S.C. §512(c)(3):

1. A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner, or of someone authorised to act for them.
2. Identification of the work you say is infringed.
3. Identification of the material you want removed, with enough detail for us to find it — a link to the review or comment is ideal.
4. Your contact information: address, telephone number, and email.
5. A statement that you have a good-faith belief the use isn't authorised by the owner, its agent, or the law.
6. A statement that the information is accurate, and — under penalty of perjury — that you're authorised to act for the owner.

A notice missing any of these is not actionable: we won't remove anything or record a strike on it. We'll tell you what's missing so you can send a complete one.

Consider fair use first. Review, commentary and criticism are what this service is for, and are frequently fair use. §512(f) makes knowingly misrepresenting infringement actionable — you can be liable for damages.

What happens when we receive a valid notice

1. We record the notice — every one that reaches our agent, including ones we go on to reject.
2. We check it's complete under §512(c)(3).
3. We remove or disable access to the material promptly. Removal is reversible: the material disappears from every surface but is retained pending resolution.
4. We notify the person who posted it, with the reason.
5. We record a strike against their account.
6. We tell them how to counter-notify.

We don't automatically publish or forward your contact details to the uploader. We may share a notice with them, with personal details redacted — but when we do, that's a decision our agent makes case by case, not something that happens by default.

Counter-notice

If your material was removed and you believe it was a mistake or misidentification, send our agent a counter-notice containing all four elements required by §512(g)(3):

1. Your signature.
2. Identification of the material and where it appeared before it was removed.
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, a statement consenting to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for your district (or, if you're outside the U.S., any district in which we may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the complainant or their agent.

All four are required. A counter-notice missing any of them doesn't start the clock below, and we'll tell you which is missing.

If your counter-notice is valid we forward it to the original complainant. Unless they file a court action seeking to restrain you within 10–14 business days, we may restore the material. That window runs from the day we forward your counter-notice — not the day we receive it — and it counts business days, so weekends don't count toward it.

A counter-notice is not an appeal. Appeals are how you contest a decision we made under our Community Guidelines. A counter-notice is a sworn statement under §512(g) that starts the statutory clock above. They're separate processes with separate consequences, and filing one doesn't file the other.

Counter-notifying carries the same perjury exposure as notifying. Don't use it to reclaim footage you don't have the rights to.

Repeat infringers

We terminate the accounts of repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances, as §512(i) requires. We count a strike for each piece of content removed following a valid notice that isn't successfully counter-noticed.

• Three strikes normally results in account termination.
• A single sufficiently egregious infringement — re-uploading a whole game's cinematics, or distributing a game itself — can result in immediate termination.
• Strikes are withdrawn if the underlying notice is retracted, or if a counter-notice resolves in your favour.

Termination means the account is deleted and its content removed.

How the count actually works, so there are no surprises:

• A strike exists only while its notice stands. We don't keep a running total, so a retracted notice or restored material removes the strike automatically rather than on request.
• A counter-notice on file does not clear a strike — restoring the material does. If the complainant files a court action instead, the material stays down and the strike stands.
• Removals under our Community Guidelines are never copyright strikes. Only a copyright notice can produce one.
• A notice we rejected as incomplete or as fair use produces no strike, and we keep the record of having rejected it.
• Reaching three strikes does not terminate an account by itself. It flags the account for a person to review, and a person decides. Nothing here is automated, in either direction.

What we can't help with

We host user content; we don't own it and can't grant you rights to it. If you want to use someone's review, ask them.

Publishers' policies on recording and monetising game footage vary, and some prohibit it entirely. If you're recording a game, that's between you and its publisher's terms — we can't grant permission on their behalf.

Trademarks and other complaints

[Contact address for non-copyright complaints — trademark, right of publicity — TBD. Same level of detail as a copyright notice.]