Legal
DMCA Policy
How to submit a copyright takedown notice to Barlin Games, what a valid notice must contain, and the counter-notice process.
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Barlin Games writes about games and the studios that make them, which means the site shows cover art, screenshots and trailers belonging to other people. If you hold rights in something published here and believe it is being used without permission, this page explains how to tell us and what happens next.
Our position on copyright
Game titles, cover art, screenshots, trailers, studio names and logos belong to their respective owners. They appear on Barlin Games for identification, commentary, review and reporting. We are not affiliated with any publisher, developer or platform holder.
Where a use goes beyond that, we would rather fix it than argue about it. Material that is the subject of a valid notice is removed or disabled promptly.
Filing a takedown notice
To be acted on, a notice needs all six of the following. This is what the Digital Millennium Copyright Act requires, and a notice missing any of them may not be valid:
- A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner, or of someone authorised to act for them.
- Identification of the copyrighted work you say has been infringed — or, if several works on the site are covered by one notice, a representative list of them.
- Identification of the material you say is infringing, with the exact URL on barlingames.com, precisely enough that we can find it.
- Your contact details: name, postal address, telephone number and email address.
- A statement that you believe in good faith that the use is not authorised 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 owner or are authorised to act on the owner's behalf.
A URL matters more than anything else here. “An image of my game is on your site” cannot be acted on; a link to the page it is on can be.
Where to send a notice
Until the designated agent details above are published, send notices to support@barlingames.com, or use the contact form and mark the subject as a copyright notice.
What happens next
We aim to review copyright notices within one business day. If the notice is valid we remove or disable access to the material, and where the material was submitted by an identifiable user we let them know and pass on the notice so they can respond. We may keep a record of the notice and of what was removed.
Filing a counter-notice
If your material was removed and you believe that was a mistake or a misidentification, you may send a counter-notice containing:
- Your physical or electronic signature.
- Identification of the material that was removed and the location where it appeared before removal.
- A statement under penalty of perjury that you believe in good faith the material was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification.
- Your name, postal address and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the appropriate court and will accept service of process from the person who filed the original notice.
We forward a valid counter-notice to the original complainant. If they do not tell us within ten business days that they have filed a court action, the material may be restored.
Repeat infringers
Accounts that are the subject of repeated valid infringement notices are suspended or closed.
Misrepresentation
Knowingly misrepresenting that material is infringing — or that it was removed by mistake — carries liability for damages, including costs and legal fees, under section 512(f) of the DMCA. Please be sure before you file.
Not a copyright question?
Wrong release dates, missing credits, broken pages and other corrections are handled through the issue form, which is faster for anything that is not a rights claim. See also the Terms of Service and Disclaimer.
