Copyright and Intellectual Property Policy

Asking Matters has adopted the following general policy toward copyright and intellectual property infringement in accordance with general U.S. intellectual property laws and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Asking Matters will respond to notices of this form from jurisdictions other than the U.S. as well. The address of Asking Matters’ Designated Agent to Receive Notification of Claimed Infringement (“Designated Agent”) is listed at the end of this policy.

Asking Matters may act expeditiously to respond to a proper notice by (1) removing or disabling access to material claimed to be subject of infringing activity; and (2) removing and discontinuing service to repeat offenders. If Asking Matters removes or disables access in response to such a notice, Asking Matters will make a good-faith attempt to contact the allegedly infringing party (“User”) so that they may make a counter notification.

A. Procedure for Reporting Copyright or Intellectual Property Infringements:

If you materially misrepresent that a product or activity is infringing your intellectual property, you may be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys’ fees). Therefore, if you are not sure whether the material infringes upon your intellectual property, please contact an attorney before contacting Asking Matters.

If you believe that material residing on or accessible through the Asking Matters web site or service infringes a copyright or other intellectual property right, to provide Asking Matters of notice of such infringement, you must send a written notice of the infringement to the Designated Agent listed below. Please specify the type of infringement at issue and the notice must include the following information:

1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or intellectual property right that has been allegedly infringed upon (by fax or regular mail – not by e-mail, except by prior agreement);

2. Identification in sufficient detail of the material being infringed upon (for an allegation of a patent infringement, please provide a patent number);

3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing upon the intellectual property. Include information regarding the location of the infringing material with sufficient detail so that Asking Matters is capable of finding and verifying its existence (for listings, please provide item numbers);

4. Contact information about the notifier including the name of the intellectual property owner, the name and title of the person contacting Asking Matters on the owner’s behalf, the address, telephone number and, if available, e-mail address;

5. A statement that the notifier has a good faith belief that the material is not authorized by the intellectual property or copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and

6. A statement made under penalty of perjury that the information provided is accurate and the notifying party is authorized to make the complaint on behalf of the intellectual property or copyright owner.

When removing material from the site, Asking Matters will make reasonable attempts to inform the User of the removal, the reason for the removal, and may provide the User with a copy of the notice and the notifying party’s contact information.

B. Removal of Allegedly Infringing Material

Once Proper Bona Fide Infringement Notification is received by the Designated Agent, Asking Matters may remove or disable access to the material infringing upon the intellectual property. If Asking Matters removes or disables access to content in response to an infringement notice, Asking Matters will make reasonable attempts to notify the User that Asking Matters has removed or disabled access to the material. Repeat offenders will have all material removed from the system and Asking Matters will terminate such Users’ access to the service.

C. Procedure to Supply a Copyright Counter-Notice to the Designated Agent:

If you materially misrepresent that a product or activity is not infringing upon the intellectual property, you may be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys fees). Therefore, if you are not sure whether or not the material infringes on the intellectual property, please contact an attorney before contacting Asking Matters.

If a Member believes that their material that was removed or to which access was disabled is not infringing upon a copyright, you must send a counter-notice, pursuant to 512(g)(2) and (3) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Please do not re-list or reactivate the material yourself. The counter-notice must contain the following information to the Designated Agent listed below.

1. Your physical or electronic signature (by regular mail, not by e-mail except by prior agreement);

2. 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 disabled;

3. A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material;

4. Your name, address, telephone number, and, if available, e-mail address and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal Court for the judicial district in which the User’s address is located, or if your address is located outside the United States, for any judicial district in which Asking Matters is located, and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.

If a counter-notice is received by the Designated Agent, Asking Matters may send a copy of the counter-notice to the original complaining party informing that person that Asking Matters may replace the removed material or cease disabling it in 10 business days. Unless the copyright or intellectual property owner files an action seeking a court order against the User, the removed material may be replaced or access to it restored in 10 to 14 business days after receipt of the counter-notice, at Asking Matters’ discretion.

Please contact Asking Matters’ Designated Agent to submit Notifications of Claimed Infringement and Copyright Counter-Notices at the following address:

Asking Matters

Attn: Legal Department

P.O. Box 2885

New York, NY 10163

USA

E-mail: [email protected]

Asking Matters’ Trademark Policy

We here at Asking Matters’ support and encourage ideas, services, and tools that use and supplement the Asking Matters services; however, we are also serious about protecting our reputation and brand identity. To help us achieve this goal, we have created these guidelines to help Asking Matters Members, Asking Matters Users, and others refer to us or our services without compromising the strength of our trademarks or our brand identity. In other words, these guidelines only concern the use of Asking Matters’ intellectual property (for example, the use of the term “Asking Matters”). For issues regarding any intellectual property which is not exclusively owned by Asking Matters, please refer to Asking Matters Copyright and Intellectual Property Policy.

Trademark Basics

A trademark is a word, name, symbol or device (or a combination thereof) that identifies the goods or services of a person or company and distinguishes them from the goods and services of others. The words Asking Matters and other Asking Matters graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and service names (together, the Asking Matters Marks) are registered trademarks or trademarks of Asking Matters in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Why must Asking Matters Protect the Asking Matters Marks? Asking Matters must be able to assure Internet users and others that only the services offered, sponsored, or endorsed by Asking Matters actually bear the Asking Matters Marks. Trademark law requires that we not only protect against improper use of the Asking Matters Marks, but also protect against the use of confusingly similar marks.

Using the Asking Matters Marks

In order for you to help us protect the Asking Matters Marks, we ask the following:

DO:

  • Do make fair use of Asking Matters Marks. Asking Matters supports free speech and you do not need permission to make legitimate commentary about Asking Matters, the company, or Asking Matters’ services.
  • Do distinguish the Asking Matters Marks from surrounding text by, for example, capitalizing the first letter of the Asking Matters Marks.
  • Do spell the Asking Matters Marks properly.

DO NOT:

  • Do not say things about Asking Matters you know are not true.
  • Do not incorporate the Asking Matters Marks or a confusingly similar mark into, for example, the name of your business, organization, non-profit organization, event, or trademark.
  • Do not remove, alter, distort or modify the Asking Matters Marks, including adding other terms to the Asking Matters Marks to create new words.
  • Do not use the Asking Matters Marks or a confusingly similar mark in a way that falsely implies a relationship or affiliation with, sponsorship, or endorsement by Asking Matters, Inc. or that can be reasonably interpreted to suggest information comes from, or represents the views or opinions of Asking Matters or an Asking Matters employee.
  • Do not, without prior permission, use the Asking Matters Marks in a product.
  • Do not use any trademarks, service marks, trade dress, designs or logos that are confusingly similar to the Asking Matters Marks or the look and feel of the Asking Matters website.
  • Do not use the Asking Matters Marks in any way or on any website that contains or promotes adult content, gambling, or otherwise violates applicable law or regulation.
  • Do not use the Asking Matters Marks in a manner that is in Asking Matters’ sole opinion misleading, unfair, defamatory, infringing, libelous, disparaging, tarnishing, obscene or otherwise objectionable to Asking Matters.

 

Asking Matters reserves the right to alter these policies at any time.