Intellectual Property Policy

Qpid Network and its associated sites (collectively “Qpid Network Sites”) provides a technical platform on the internet for, amongst others, its members to interact. Although not obliged to strictly comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA"), by way of “best practice” we do strive to follow the DMCA principles in respect of Intellectual Property Rights (“IPRs”). Qpid Network will respond promptly to claims of IPR infringement reported to its designated Intellectual Property Right Agent (“Qpid Network IPR Agent”). Qpid Network shall disable access to or remove content that it believes in good faith may infringe the IPRs of third parties as well as discontinue service to users who repeatedly make such content available or otherwise violate Qpid Network's Terms of Use.

Protecting Our IPRs

Qpid Network maintains zero tolerance towards copyright infringement, as such, we ask that you do not abuse the Qpid Network service by using it to distribute materials to which you do not have legal rights or authorization; and conversely do not infringe any of our IPRs including but not limited to patent, copyright, trademark, service mark, database right, design right, whether registered under any applicable jurisdiction or existing in Common law without the need of registration. Examples of such breaches would be unauthorised (a) reproduction / paraphrasing of write-ups appearing on our Qpid Sites, (b) hyperlinks to any part of our Qpid Sites, (c) copying photograph / graphical design appearing on our Qpid Sites for commercial gain or endeavours, etc.

It is our firm corporate policy to pursue after, as we relentlessly did and do, those who infringed our IPRs.

Protecting Your IPRs

For your protection, should you have good faith belief that your copyrighted material has been uploaded without your permission or authorization we suggest you send to Qpid Network IPR Agent a Notice of Copyright Infringement (“Notice”).

To complete a proper Notice, state the following information:

  1. Identify yourself as owner of the copyrighted work or exclusive rights that you believe were infringed, or a person acting on behalf of such owner.
  2. Provide information reasonably sufficient to permit Qpid Network to contact you, namely your contact information: name, address, phone number, and email address.
  3. Identify the copyrighted work that you believe is being infringed, or if a large number of works are being infringed, a representative list of the works.
  4. Identify the location of materials that allegedly are infringing your copyrighted work by providing URLs on the Qpid Network Site that contain these materials. Please do not send attached images, .pdf or other file formats, only list the relevant Qpid Network Site URLs. Providing URLs in the body of an email is the best way to help us locate content quickly.
  5. State that you have " … a good faith belief that use of the aforementioned material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agents, or the law".
  6. State that the information in the Notice is accurate, under penalty of perjury. To do so, include the following statement: "I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the (copyright) owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed."
  7. Sign the notice. If you are providing notice by e-mail, a scanned physical signature or a valid electronic signature will be accepted.
  8. To expedite our ability to process your request, your proper Notice must be sent to the Qpid Network IPR Agent at: ipr@qpidnetwork.com

Policy against Repeat Infringer

Qpid Network will, in appropriate circumstances, terminate repeat infringers. If you believe that an account holder or subscriber is a repeat infringer, please follow the instructions above to contact Qpid Network and provide information sufficient for us to verify that the account holder or subscriber is a repeat infringer.

Notice and Takedown Procedure

Qpid Network will follow up to properly enforce the rights of copyright holders. When a proper Notice is received by Qpid Network IPR Agent, or when Qpid Network becomes otherwise aware that copyright rights are infringed, it will remove or disable access to infringing materials as soon as possible. Qpid Network will not necessarily send a confirmation regarding the removal/disabling.

Trademarks / Service Marks in Particular

When content is uploaded to the Qpid Network service by users, Qpid Network does not knowingly incorporate third party trademarks (if any) when such content is uploaded. Further, Qpid Network does not provide an index of content available through the Qpid Network service.

If you believe that the Qpid Network service is being used to distribute products or services using your trademark in a manner that violates your rights as a trademark holder, you may submit a notification to Qpid Network IPR Agent. Use the process described above for submitting a notification of copyright infringement specifying that your notification pertains to trademark infringement by including the phrase "Trademark Infringement Notice" in the subject line of your e-mail message or letter. Moreover, pursuant to identifying the trademarked content and location, include the following statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the trademark owner, the trademark owner's agent, or the law; a statement that you are the owner or are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the trademark that you believe is being infringed; an assurance that the information being provided is accurate and lastly your physical or electronic signature.

Following receipt of a proper notification as outlined above, Qpid Network will promptly disable access to or remove content that it believes in good faith may infringe the trademark rights of third parties.

Qpid Network shall once properly notified act expeditiously to remove all infringing content and further attempt to work with the copyright owner to deal with any issues of infringement. As such, our terms and conditions strictly prohibit the uploading of any and all content which infringe on any IPR as well as other illegal conduct.