Copyright & DMCA Policy

All original literary works, manuscripts, images, and content uploaded by users remain the exclusive intellectual property of their respective creators. Scriptorium.works (operated by IVI CREATIVE AGENCY LLC, a limited liability company organized under the laws of the State of Ohio, United States) claims no ownership over user-uploaded content.

Under the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (in force in 179 countries, including all European Union Member States, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Romania), copyright protection arises automatically at the moment of creation and fixation of a work in a tangible medium. No registration is required for a work to be legally protected.

Uploading your work to Scriptorium.works does not affect your copyright. You remain the sole owner. The license you grant to the Platform for hosting, displaying, and distributing your work is defined in our Upload Agreement and is strictly limited to what is necessary for operating the Platform.

When you use the /protect feature, the following process occurs: A SHA-256 cryptographic hash is generated from your file. This hash uniquely identifies the exact content of your document — any modification, even a single character, produces an entirely different hash.

The hash, together with the declared author name and a precise UTC timestamp, is recorded in our database. The hash is then submitted through a public timestamping protocol that anchors document hashes onto the Bitcoin blockchain. A certificate with a unique ID (format: SW-XXXX-YYYY-XXXX) is issued, verifiable at scriptorium.works/certificate/[ID].

What this certificate legally establishes: (a) that a document with a specific SHA-256 hash existed at or before the recorded timestamp; (b) that the person who submitted it declared themselves as the author at that time; (c) corroborating evidence of priority — if two persons claim authorship of the same work, an earlier timestamp constitutes strong evidence.

What this certificate does NOT establish: (i) it does not constitute a copyright registration with any national authority; (ii) it does not confer eligibility for U.S. statutory damages under 17 U.S.C. § 504(c); (iii) it does not prove you are the original creator — only that you possessed this document at that moment; (iv) it does not create a public copyright ownership database.

Any certificate issued by Scriptorium.works can be independently verified: Download the original file and compute the SHA-256 hash using any standard tool (e.g., sha256sum file.pdf on Linux/Mac; CertUtil -hashfile file.pdf SHA256 on Windows). Compare the computed hash with the hash displayed on the certificate — they must be identical. To verify the Bitcoin blockchain anchor, use the public blockchain verification tools provided with the receipt in your certificate.

This verification is completely independent of Scriptorium.works — even if our Platform were to cease to exist, the record on the Bitcoin blockchain and the verification tools are permanent and open-source.

If you intend to commercially exploit your work in the United States or anticipate significant risk of infringement, we strongly recommend formal copyright registration:

United States Copyright Office: copyright.gov/registration — $45 per work for online filing. Required for eligibility to recover statutory damages ($750–$150,000 per infringement under 17 U.S.C. § 504(c)) and attorney fees. Registration before infringement, or within three (3) months of first publication, is most advantageous.

ORDA (Romania): Oficiul Român pentru Drepturile de Autor — optional deposit system for Romanian works.

European Union: There is no mandatory EU-wide copyright registration system. National legal deposit libraries (e.g., the National Library of Romania) accept voluntary deposits.

The Scriptorium.works Authorship Certificate complements, but does not replace, these formal registration options.

In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(2), Scriptorium.works has formally designated an Agent to receive notifications of claimed copyright infringement.

Platform Operator: IVI CREATIVE AGENCY LLC, a limited liability company organized under the laws of the State of Ohio, United States of America.

Designated Agent Name: DMCA Agent

Mailing address available via the USCO DMCA Designated Agent directory (dmca.copyright.gov/list)

Email for DMCA Notifications: [email protected]

Email for General Legal Inquiries: [email protected]

Telephone: +1 (440) 454-4790

Our Designated Agent is officially registered with the United States Copyright Office pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(2). Public verification of this registration is available at: https://dmca.copyright.gov/list (search for "IVI CREATIVE AGENCY LLC").

This Section serves as the official notice of our Designated Agent for any communication concerning copyright matters pertaining to content hosted on any of our domains, including scriptorium.works, scripte.ro, and associated subdomains.

If you have a good-faith belief that content hosted on our Platform infringes your copyright, you must send a written notice to our Designated DMCA Agent at [email protected] with the subject line "DMCA Takedown Notice."

Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3)(A), to be valid, your notification must include ALL of the following elements:

(a) A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;

(b) Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed (or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works);

(c) Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, with information reasonably sufficient to permit Scriptorium.works to locate the material (specific URLs are required);

(d) Information reasonably sufficient to permit Scriptorium.works to contact the complaining party: name, address, telephone number, and an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted;

(e) A statement that the complaining party has a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;

(f) A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Upon receipt of a valid notification, we will: (i) expeditiously remove or disable access to the claimed infringing content; (ii) notify the user who uploaded the content; (iii) document the notification in our internal register; (iv) issue a copyright Strike to the uploader per Section 8 if the notification is not contested within fourteen (14) business days. Target response time is 10–14 business days.

LEGAL WARNING: Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity is infringing shall be liable for any damages, including costs and attorneys' fees, incurred by the alleged infringer or by Scriptorium.works.

If your content was removed pursuant to a DMCA notification and you have a good-faith belief that the removal was the result of mistake or misidentification of the material, you may submit a Counter-Notification to [email protected].

Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3), to be valid, your counter-notification must include ALL of the following elements:

(a) A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber;

(b) Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled;

(c) A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good-faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled;

(d) The subscriber's name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriber's address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which Scriptorium.works may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.

Upon receipt of a valid counter-notification, we will: (i) forward a copy to the original complainant; (ii) inform the complainant that we will restore the content within ten (10) to fourteen (14) business days, unless the complainant files an action seeking a court order to restrain the subscriber from engaging in infringing activity.

If a Strike is associated with the removed content, the Strike will be marked "Disputed" upon receipt of a valid counter-notification, and shall be cancelled retroactively if the content is restored.

To balance robust protection of copyright with fairness toward users, we apply a progressive Strikes system modeled on the industry-standard approach used by YouTube, with a rolling 90-day window.

Strike 1 (first warning): Email notification + immediate removal of the claimed infringing content. The user must read and acknowledge a copyright education page before continuing platform activity. No additional upload restrictions are imposed.

Strike 2 (second warning, received within 90 days of Strike 1): Email notification + content removal + a seven (7) calendar day suspension on uploading new content. The account remains active for viewing existing content and withdrawing existing earnings via the user's Stripe Connect account.

Strike 3 (third warning, received within 90 days of Strike 2): Content removal + permanent account termination. Funds remaining in the user's Stripe Connect balance may be redirected to the identifiable copyright holder, in accordance with applicable law and platform discretion.

Automatic Expiration: If a user receives no new Strike during a continuous 90-day period from their last Strike, all prior Strikes expire automatically. A subsequent Strike will be counted as Strike 1.

Concrete examples:

Example A — User receives Strike 1 on January 1. On February 15, they receive a new valid complaint. This counts as Strike 2 (within 90 days). Result: 7-day upload restriction.

Example B — User receives Strike 1 on January 1. The next valid complaint arrives on May 15 (more than 90 days later). This counts as Strike 1 again, because the prior Strike has expired.

Strike Contestation: A Strike is deemed "uncontested" after fourteen (14) business days from issuance if the user has not filed a valid Counter-Notification per Section 7. Strikes successfully contested (content restored) are cancelled retroactively and do not count toward the user's history.

Notification of Strikes is delivered by email to the account's registered address and is visible in the user's dashboard, including issuance date, reason, expiration date, and contestation option.

In addition to copyright infringement, presenting another person's work as your own (plagiarism) is a serious violation of our Terms of Service, regardless of the copyright status of the original work.

Confirmed plagiarism results in: (a) immediate removal of the implicated content; (b) permanent account ban; (c) forfeiture of any pending payouts related to the implicated listing; (d) notification of the original author if identifiable.

Plagiarism is legally distinct from copyright infringement. You may infringe copyright without plagiarizing (e.g., redistributing a clearly attributed work belonging to another), and you may plagiarize without infringing copyright (e.g., copying a public domain work and presenting it as your own). Plagiarism is NOT protected by the public domain status of the underlying work.

Scriptorium.works permits users to upload third-party materials (works that are not their own original creation), BUT only within strictly defined categories and exclusively for FREE distribution. You may not set a price on a work that is not your own original creation, even if you possess redistribution rights.

Third-party materials may be uploaded ONLY within one of the following three (3) categories, each with its own strict requirements:

CATEGORY A — PUBLIC DOMAIN:

Works whose copyright protection has expired. Under the laws of most jurisdictions (EU, USA, RO), this means the author died at least 70 years ago. ELIGIBLE EXAMPLES (as of this Policy's date): Mihai Eminescu (died 1889), Ion Luca Caragiale (died 1912), Leo Tolstoy (died 1910), Mark Twain (died 1910), Jane Austen (died 1817). NON-ELIGIBLE EXAMPLE: Marin Preda (died 1980) — still under copyright protection. At upload, you must declare: (i) the original author's full name; (ii) the year of death; (iii) the year of birth (if known). For anonymous or pseudonymous works, the rules differ significantly (75 years from publication in the USA, 70 years from publication in the EU) — when in doubt, consult a specialist before uploading.

CATEGORY B — CREATIVE COMMONS:

Works distributed under a Creative Commons license compatible with redistribution on our Platform. ACCEPTED TYPES: CC0 (dedicated to public domain), CC-BY (with attribution), CC-BY-SA (with attribution, share-alike), CC-BY-NC (non-commercial), CC-BY-NC-SA (non-commercial, share-alike). NOT ACCEPTED: CC-BY-ND (no derivatives), CC-BY-NC-ND (no derivatives). At upload, you must: (i) attach the license document or link; (ii) declare the exact license type; (iii) indicate the original author for proper attribution. Because our Platform distributes third-party materials free of charge, we are compatible with the "non-commercial" restriction — but always verify the exact license text for your specific work.

CATEGORY C — WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM AUTHOR / RIGHTS HOLDER:

Works for which you have received explicit, written consent from the rights holder for redistribution on Scriptorium.works. At upload, you must: (i) attach the document evidencing the permission (signed PDF, email with valid electronic signature, scanned contract, or legal equivalent); (ii) clearly indicate the rights holder's name and the date of permission; (iii) demonstrate that the permission specifically covers digital redistribution on online platforms. Verbal, implied, or presumed permission is NOT accepted. Permission from a single co-author for a jointly authored work is NOT sufficient without consent of all co-authors.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES APPLICABLE TO ALL CATEGORIES:

Exclusively FREE distribution: Third-party material may not have a price, mandatory donation, or paywall. This principle is absolute and admits no exceptions. Optional voluntary tipping to the uploader (via the uploader's own Stripe Connect account) is permitted only for the uploader's editorial/curatorial labor, not as compensation for the original work.

Manual Review: Materials in Categories B and C may be subject to manual review by our team before publication. Submissions that cannot be verified are rejected with explanation. Good-faith rejections do not result in a Strike under Section 8.

Personal Liability: You are solely responsible for the accuracy of declarations made at upload. False declarations constitute a material breach of this Policy and our Terms of Service, and may result in immediate account termination beyond the ordinary Strikes Policy, plus potential legal consequences (including liability under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f) and equivalent laws).

Permanent Documentation: All declarations made at upload (selected category, individual checkboxes, attachments, timestamp, IP address, browser user agent) are stored permanently in our database and may be used as evidence in any legal proceeding. By uploading, you consent to this evidentiary use.

Works generated entirely by artificial intelligence (AI) may not be listed without clear disclosure. The following rules apply:

Human-authored content with AI assistance: PERMITTED, but AI involvement must be disclosed in the listing description (e.g., "written with GPT-4 assistance for editing").

Fully AI-generated content: PERMITTED only in designated categories, and must be labeled clearly as "AI-Generated" in both the title and description of the listing.

Undisclosed AI content: grounds for immediate content removal and account suspension.

Under current copyright law in most jurisdictions (including the United States and the European Union), works created entirely by AI without meaningful human authorship are NOT eligible for copyright protection (see Thaler v. Perlmutter, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 2023). Scriptorium.works does not grant or imply any intellectual property rights in AI-generated content beyond those established by applicable law.

For content created with AI assistance but meaningful human authorship, authorship is recognized in the human user who substantially contributed to the work.

This Copyright & DMCA Policy is governed by the laws of the State of Ohio and the federal laws of the United States, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. Any disputes arising under this Policy shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, USA.

DMCA and copyright notices: [email protected]

General legal inquiries, counter-notifications, and other legal matters: [email protected]

Mailing Address: IVI CREATIVE AGENCY LLC

Telephone: +1 (440) 454-4790

Responses are provided in English or Romanian. For all legal disputes and interpretation, the English-language version of this Policy is the authoritative legally binding version; the Romanian-language translation is provided as a convenience to Romanian-speaking users.