DMCA & IP Notices

1. Designated Agent

Our designated agent for receipt of DMCA notices is reachable by email at info@waterdepartmentguide.org. Please use the subject line DMCA notice for takedown requests, DMCA counter-notice for counter-notifications, Trademark concern for trademark complaints, and Defamation concern or Correction for defamation complaints. (For US safe-harbor protection under 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(2), online service providers register their designated agent with the US Copyright Office; the email contact above is appropriate for sending notices to us.)

2. Filing a DMCA Notice

If you believe content on waterdepartmentguide.org/ infringes a copyright you own or are authorized to enforce, send a written notice to the designated agent. The notice should be sent in plain text or PDF.

3. The Six Required Elements of a DMCA § 512(c)(3) Notice

1. Signature of the copyright owner, or a person authorized to act on the owner’s behalf (electronic signature is acceptable).
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed — a specific work, or a representative list if multiple works at the site are covered.
3. Identification of the allegedly infringing material — sufficient to permit us to locate it (full URLs to the specific page or pages on waterdepartmentguide.org/, not the homepage).
4. Reasonably sufficient contact information — your name, US address, telephone number, and email.
5. A good-faith statement that you have 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.
6. An accuracy statement — that the information in the notification is accurate, and (UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY) that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

4. DMCA Counter-Notice

If your content was removed in response to a DMCA notice and you believe the removal was based on mistake or misidentification, you may file a counter-notice under 17 U.S.C. § 512(g). A counter-notice must include:

• Your signature
• Identification of the material that was removed and the location at which it appeared before removal
• A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief that the material was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification
• Your name, US address, and telephone number
• A statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the US District Court for the judicial district in which your address is located (or, if outside the US, for any judicial district in which we may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the person who submitted the original notice

If we receive a valid counter-notice, we will forward it to the original complainant. If the original complainant does not file a court action within 10-14 business days, we may restore the removed material consistent with the safe harbor.

5. Repeat-Infringer Policy

waterdepartmentguide.org/ maintains a policy of terminating in appropriate circumstances the access of users (including contributors and commenters) who are repeat infringers of copyright, consistent with 17 U.S.C. § 512(i)(1)(A).

6. Section 512(f) Misrepresentation

7. Fair Use Under 17 U.S.C. § 107

Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107, sets out the fair-use doctrine. Fair use is determined by considering four factors:

• (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether commercial in nature or for nonprofit educational purposes, and whether transformative
• (2) the nature of the copyrighted work
• (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
• (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work

8. Federal Public Domain Under 17 U.S.C. § 105

17 U.S.C. § 105 provides that US federal government works are not subject to copyright protection. EPA publications, US Geological Survey publications, federal-agency CCR guidance, and other works of US federal-government employees in the scope of their employment are in the public domain. We rely on the public-domain status where we summarize or extract such material.

State and local government works are not subject to § 105 and may carry copyright protection that varies by jurisdiction. The US Supreme Court’s decision in Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc., 590 U.S. ___ (2020), clarified that government edicts are uncopyrightable; we apply that doctrine to state statutes, regulations, and judicial opinions, and to state government works that constitute “edicts of government.”

9. Trademark — Nominative Fair Use Under the Lanham Act

We use the names of US federal regulators, state regulators, water departments, and billing-technology vendors nominatively — for example, “EPA,” “Safe Drinking Water Act,” “Consumer Confidence Report,” “AWWA,” “NACWA,” “NRWA,” “ASDWA,” “Tyler MUNIS,” “InvoiceCloud,” “Paymentus,” “Cayenta,” “Harris ERP,” and individual department names — to identify the entity our entry covers. This is nominative fair use under US trademark law, permitted where (per New Kids on the Block v. News America Publishing, Inc., 971 F.2d 302 (9th Cir. 1992), and the federal nominative-fair-use defense codified at 15 U.S.C. § 1115(b)(4)): the product or service in question is one not readily identifiable without use of the trademark; only so much of the trademark is used as is reasonably necessary to identify the product or service; and the user does nothing that would, in conjunction with the trademark, suggest sponsorship or endorsement by the trademark holder.

If you are the rights holder for a referenced trademark and you believe our use is outside the nominative-fair-use doctrine, email us with subject line Trademark concern — we respond within 5 business days.

10. Defamation Framework + Section 230

Our content is editorial reporting on US water department administrative and governance details. We rarely have occasion to publish defamation-relevant content; when we do reference water-department directors, council members, commissioners, or other public officials in their official capacity, we attribute statements to the official record and we correct factual errors when shown they are factual errors.

Defamation in the US is state-law-based and varies by state. Common features include:

• Truth is a complete defense
• Fair report privilege for accurate reports of official proceedings (city council meetings, PUD commission meetings, state PUC rate hearings, etc.)
• Opinion is protected; statements that are not provably false are not actionable
• For public officials and public figures, actual malice (knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard) is required (New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964); Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts, 388 U.S. 130 (1967))
• For private figures on matters of public concern, at least negligence is required (Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323 (1974))
• State anti-SLAPP statutes (California Code of Civil Procedure § 425.16, Texas Citizens Participation Act, and others) protect speech on matters of public concern from meritless lawsuits

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C. § 230, provides that “no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” We rely on Section 230 with respect to user-submitted content. We do not rely on Section 230 with respect to our own editorial content; that content is our own.

If you believe a statement on the site is factually incorrect, email us with subject line Defamation concern or Correction. Provide the page URL, the specific statement, and the source you believe shows it is incorrect. We respond within 7 business days.

11. What We Cannot Help With

• We cannot remove your name from a water department’s billing records — you must contact the department directly
• We cannot remove a record of utility delinquency from a Consumer Reporting Agency — that is an FCRA § 611 dispute process with the CRA
• We cannot remove an EPA enforcement action or state primacy agency enforcement action from federal or state records — those are administrative records of public agencies
• We cannot remove a city council meeting minute, PUD commission record, or state PUC docket entry — those are records of public proceedings under state Open Meetings / Sunshine Acts
• We cannot remove accurate content drawn from public EPA, state primacy agency, state PUC, or local government publications
• We cannot represent you in litigation against any third party — consult an attorney licensed in your state
• We cannot remove your name from search engine results — that is a matter for the search engine under applicable state privacy laws

12. Contact

For DMCA notices: info@waterdepartmentguide.org with subject line DMCA notice.
For counter-notices: subject line DMCA counter-notice.
For trademark concerns: subject line Trademark concern.
For defamation concerns: subject line Defamation concern or Correction.