Copyright and Takedowns

Stratus Ventures LLC respects copyright and expects the people who use PostBox to do the same. This page is how to tell us about an infringement, what happens next, and how to answer a notice made against you.

What PostBox actually stores

Worth knowing before you write to us, because it decides who can help. PostBox posts from your own Mac using sessions you signed in to yourself, and your drafts stay in your own Documents folder. Two platforms — Threads and Instagram — refuse to accept a file and will only fetch a URL, so for those, and only those, an image or video passes through our media host on the way. It is stored under a random key that identifies nobody, is reachable only through a signed link that expires in 30 minutes, and is deleted within the hour.

So a notice about a file held here will almost always concern something already deleted. A notice about a post — something live on X, Instagram, TikTok or anywhere else — has to go to that platform, because that is who is hosting it and who can take it down. We can act on the account that sent it; we cannot reach into a platform and remove it.

Designated agent

Notices of claimed infringement go to our agent, registered with the United States Copyright Office under 17 U.S.C. §512(c)(2):

Email is the fastest route and the one we watch. Please put “DMCA” in the subject line.

Sending a notice

To be effective under §512(c)(3), a notice has to contain all six of these. A notice missing any of them may not oblige us to act, and we will usually write back asking for the rest rather than ignoring it.

1. A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner, or someone authorised to act for them.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work you say has been infringed — or, if several works are covered by one notice, a representative list of them.
3. Identification of the material you say is infringing, with enough detail for us to find it. A URL is usually the only thing that does this.
4. Your contact details: address, telephone number, and an email address.
5. A statement that you believe in good faith that the use is not authorised by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
6. A statement that the information in the notice is accurate and — under penalty of perjury — that you are the copyright owner or authorised to act on their behalf.

Under §512(f), knowingly misrepresenting that material is infringing makes you liable for the damages it causes, including the other side's legal costs. Please be sure before you send one.

What we do with it

We act expeditiously to remove or disable access to material identified in a valid notice, so far as it is still within our reach, and we tell the account holder what was removed and why. Where the material has already expired from our media host — which is the usual case — we say so, and we record the notice against the account it came from.

Counter-notice

If your material was removed and you believe that was a mistake or a misidentification, you can send a counter-notice to the same agent. Under §512(g)(3) it needs your signature, identification of the material and where it appeared before removal, a statement under penalty of perjury that you believe in good faith it was removed by mistake or misidentification, and your name, address and telephone number together with your consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the district where you live — or, if you are outside the United States, of any district where we may be found — and that you will accept service from the person who sent the original notice.

We will forward a valid counter-notice to the person who complained. If they do not tell us within ten business days that they have filed an action seeking a court order, we may restore the material.

Repeat infringers

We terminate the accounts of repeat infringers. An account that draws repeated valid notices will be closed, and we may close one sooner where the infringement is flagrant. This policy is part of the Terms, which every account holder agrees to.

Trade marks and everything else

This page is for copyright. For a trade mark complaint, or anything else that needs a person rather than a procedure, email [email protected] and say what the problem is.

Also here: Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.