DMCA Policy

1. Designated Agent

Our designated agent for receipt of DMCA notifications is reachable by email at info@medical-centers.org. Please use the subject line “DMCA notice” for takedown requests and “DMCA counter-notice” for counter-notifications. We process all notices submitted in good faith and that include the six statutory elements set out below.

2. Filing a DMCA Notice

If you believe content on medical-centers.org/ infringes a copyright you own or are authorised to enforce, send a written notice to the designated agent. The notice should be sent in plain text or PDF and include all six statutory elements.

3. Six Required Elements (17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3))

1. Physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner, or a person authorised to act on the owner’s behalf.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed — a specific work, or, if multiple works at the site are covered, a representative list.
3. Identification of the allegedly infringing material — sufficient to permit us to locate it (full URLs to the specific page or pages on medical-centers.org/, not the homepage).
4. Reasonably sufficient contact information — your name, 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 authorised by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
6. An accuracy statement under penalty of perjury — that the information in the notification is accurate, and (under penalty of perjury) that you are authorised to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

4. Counter-Notice (17 U.S.C. § 512(g))

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. A counter-notice must include:

• Your physical or electronic 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, address, and telephone number
• A statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for the judicial district in which your address is located (or, if outside the U.S., for any judicial district in which medical-centers.org/ 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 seeking a restraining order against the user within 10–14 business days of receipt of the counter-notice, we may restore the removed material.

5. Repeat-Infringer Policy (17 U.S.C. § 512(i))

medical-centers.org/ maintains a policy, in compliance with Section 512(i), of terminating in appropriate circumstances the access of users (including contributors and commenters) who are repeat infringers of copyright.

6. Misrepresentation Liability (17 U.S.C. § 512(f))

7. Fair Use & Public-Health Information (17 U.S.C. § 107)

Section 107 of the Copyright Act establishes the fair-use defence. The four statutory factors are: (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether it is for nonprofit educational purposes or 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; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Federal government works are generally not subject to copyright (17 U.S.C. § 105). Equivalent crown-copyright frameworks apply to UK NHS and government materials with their own usage permissions; CIHI and Health Canada publications often have open-government licensing; AIHW and ACSQHC publications generally allow informational reuse. We comply with each agency’s stated reuse policy.

8. Trademark — Nominative Fair Use

We use the names of medical centers, hospitals, health systems, and regulators — for example, “Massachusetts General Hospital,” “Cleveland Clinic,” “Johns Hopkins Hospital,” “Mayo Clinic,” “Cedars-Sinai Medical Center,” “NewYork-Presbyterian,” “Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust,” “Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust,” “King’s College Hospital,” “University Health Network Toronto,” “McGill University Health Centre,” “Royal Melbourne Hospital,” “Royal Prince Alfred Hospital,” “Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services,” “National Health Service,” “Care Quality Commission,” “Health Canada,” “Australian Department of Health and Aged Care,” and many others — to identify the entity our page covers. This is nominative fair use. Under the Ninth Circuit’s framework in New Kids on the Block v. News America Publishing, Inc., 971 F.2d 302 (9th Cir. 1992) and subsequent case law, nominative use is permitted where the product or service in question is not readily identifiable without use of the trademark, only so much of the mark is used as is reasonably necessary, and the user does nothing that would suggest sponsorship or endorsement by the mark holder. We meet all three requirements.

If you are the mark holder for a hospital, health system, regulator, or accrediting body referenced on the site and you believe our use exceeds nominative fair use, email us with subject line “Trademark concern” — we respond within 5 business days. We will not entertain trademark objections that are functionally objections to accurate reporting on facility operations protected by the First Amendment or its UK / Canadian / Australian equivalents.

9. Defamation Framework

Defamation requires a false statement of fact published with the relevant degree of fault. For matters of public concern — including the operation of hospitals (especially public hospitals, NHS trusts, provincial public hospitals, and Australian public hospitals), CMS-certified facilities, and the conduct of healthcare regulators — the U.S. Supreme Court’s framework in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964) requires public officials to prove “actual malice” (knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth). Hospital chief executives, medical directors of public-funded facilities, and healthcare regulators acting in their official capacity are typically public figures or public officials for Sullivan purposes when commentary concerns their institutional conduct. For private figures involved in matters of public concern, Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323 (1974) and its progeny require at least a showing of fault.

Equivalent frameworks operate in the UK (Defamation Act 2013, public-interest defence at s.4), Canada (responsible communication on matters of public interest from Grant v. Torstar Corp., 2009 SCC 61), and Australia (uniform defamation laws across states with statutory public-interest defence).

We report on facility activity and procedure. We attribute statements to the agency or facility record. We correct factual errors when shown they are factual errors. We do not retract accurate reporting in response to objections from people who don’t like that the reporting is accurate. 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.

10. What We Can’t Help With

• We can’t remove agency-published facility information that exists in CMS, HRSA, CQC, AIHW, or equivalent public agency databases — we report what the agency publishes; the source is the agency
• We can’t remove accurate reporting on hospital operations, public-health information, or facility services drawn from public sources
• We can’t suppress public-health data published by an agency under its applicable open-data or transparency framework
• We can’t remove information about you from CMS, HRSA, CQC, AIHW, or any agency database — those are public records under each country’s framework — you must contact the agency directly
• We can’t represent you in litigation against any third party — consult a lawyer
• We can’t process medical record requests, schedule appointments, or release any patient data — those go to the facility or the appropriate regulator

11. Contact

For DMCA notices: info@medical-centers.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”.