Copyright & DMCA Policy

How to send TatSeek a copyright notice, what happens next, and how a studio or artist can respond. For most requests a plain email is enough.

The fastest way

If you own a photograph or a tattoo design shown on TatSeek and want it removed, email hello@tatseek.com with the subject “Copyright: photograph” or “Copyright: tattoo design” and the page link. That is all we need to act. You do not have to send a formal notice, and removal costs nothing.

Formal notice (17 U.S.C. § 512)

If you prefer to use the procedure of the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, send a written notice to our copyright agent at hello@tatseek.com (subject “DMCA notice”) that includes:

1. your physical or electronic signature, as the owner or a person authorised to act for the owner;
2. the copyrighted work you say is infringed — and, if it is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, its registration number, which lets us confirm the claim quickly;
3. the TatSeek page or pages where it appears (the URL of each photo page);
4. your name, postal address, telephone number and email address;
5. a statement that you have a good-faith belief 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 owner or authorised to act for the owner.

Before sending a notice, the sender has to consider whether the use is a fair use (Lenz v. Universal Music Corp., 9th Cir. 2016). A person who knowingly misrepresents that material is infringing can be liable for damages, including costs and attorneys’ fees (17 U.S.C. § 512(f)).

What happens next

• We reply to confirm we received it and aim to act within two business days. A photo may be hidden at once while we check.
• When a notice is complete, we remove the photo together with the data we derived from it — the description, tags and measurements — and, if a studio account uploaded it, we tell that studio.
• If a notice is missing something, we ask for it. We may still remove the photo voluntarily in the meantime.
• We keep a short record of the request (the page, the date and what we did), so the photo is not added again.

Counter-notice

If a studio or artist uploaded a photo through its own account and believes it was removed by mistake, it can send a counter-notice under 17 U.S.C. § 512(g) to the same address, with: its signature; the photo and the page where it appeared; a statement under penalty of perjury that it believes in good faith the photo was removed by mistake or misidentification; its name, address and telephone number; and consent to the jurisdiction of the federal court for its address (or, outside the United States, any judicial district where TatSeek may be found) and to accept service from the person who sent the notice. We forward it to the sender and may restore the photo after 10 to 14 business days unless the sender tells us it has filed a court action.

Photos that TatSeek added from a public portfolio are simply removed on request; there is nothing to counter. If the studio had given us permission, we put the studio and the person who complained in touch.

Repeat infringers

Accounts that repeatedly upload work they have no right to publish are closed.

Credits and watermarks

We copy photos as published and do not remove or alter copyright management information — watermarks, signatures or credits (17 U.S.C. § 1202). If you see one missing on TatSeek, tell us: it is a mistake and we fix it or remove the photo.

Further reading

• U.S. Copyright Office — Fair Use Index
• U.S. Copyright Office — Section 512 of Title 17
• Image rights & attribution · Report an issue · Terms

This page explains our process; it is not legal advice.

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