Summary. If you believe material on our website infringes your copyright, email legal@xernel.cc with “Copyright notice” or “DMCA notice” in the subject. We will acknowledge your notice and act on it within 3 business days. We accept notices under both EU rules and the U.S. DMCA. Matters beyond copyright (trademarks, game terms of service, etc.) are handled under our Pre-Trial Dispute Resolution procedure.
1. General
Xernel (“we”, “us”) respects intellectual property rights. We handle copyright notices:
- under EU law — having regard to the InfoSoc Directive (2001/29/EC), the Software Directive (2009/24/EC) and the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive ((EU) 2019/790), through a process based on the notice-and-action principles of the Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065);
- under U.S. law — in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA, 17 U.S.C. § 512); this route is available in particular to U.S. rightsholders.
Both kinds of notice are handled within the same timelines.
2. Where to Send Notices
Send all notices to legal@xernel.cc with “Copyright notice” (EU) or “DMCA notice” (U.S.) in the subject line. This is Xernel’s sole official email address; notices sent to any other address claiming to belong to Xernel are not received by us. Telegram, Discord and support tickets are not channels for legal notices.
3. EU Notice (DSA)
Your notice should be sufficiently precise and substantiated, and include:
- a substantiated explanation of why you consider the material to infringe copyright, identifying the work concerned;
- a clear indication of the exact location of the material (specific URLs) and, where necessary, additional information to identify it;
- your name and email address;
- if you act on behalf of the rightsholder, details of the rightsholder and of your authority;
- a statement confirming your good-faith belief that the information and allegations in the notice are accurate and complete.
4. DMCA Notice (17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3))
Your notice must include:
- a physical or electronic signature of a person authorised to act on behalf of the copyright owner;
- identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed (or, for multiple works, a representative list);
- identification of the material claimed to be infringing, with information reasonably sufficient for us to locate it (for example, exact URLs);
- your contact information: name, address, telephone number and email address;
- a statement that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material is not authorised by the copyright owner, its agent or the law;
- a statement that the information in the notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or authorised to act on the owner’s behalf.
If a notice is incomplete, we will tell you what is missing within the acknowledgment period.
5. How We Handle Notices
- we acknowledge receipt within 3 business days;
- we process notices in a timely, diligent, non-arbitrary and objective manner and, where a notice is well-founded, remove or disable access to the material — normally within the same period;
- we inform the notifier of our decision and, where applicable, tell the person who provided the material about the decision, the reasons and how to challenge it;
- on disputed points, we give a reasoned response within 10 business days and are open to discussion under our Pre-Trial Dispute Resolution procedure.
6. Appeals and Counter-Notices
6.1. EU Route
If you believe material was removed in error, send a reasoned objection to legal@xernel.cc. We will carry out a fresh, human (not automated) review of the decision within 10 business days and inform both sides of the outcome.
6.2. DMCA Route (17 U.S.C. § 512(g))
A counter-notice must contain:
- your physical or electronic signature;
- identification of the material removed and the location where it appeared before removal;
- a statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief the material was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification;
- your name, address and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the U.S. Federal District Court for the judicial district of your address (or, if you are outside the United States, 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 or their agent.
We will forward the counter-notice to the original complainant and restore the material no sooner than 10 and no later than 14 business days after receiving it, unless the complainant informs us that they have filed an action seeking a court order to restrain the activity.
7. Repeat Infringers and Misuse
In appropriate circumstances, we restrict or terminate access to our services for users who repeatedly infringe copyright. After a warning, we may also temporarily stop processing notices from anyone who frequently submits manifestly unfounded notices.
8. Misrepresentation
Anyone who knowingly and materially misrepresents that material is infringing, or that it was removed by mistake, may be liable for damages, including costs and legal fees (including under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f)). Before sending a notice, please consider whether the use may be authorised, including under the copyright exceptions and limitations of EU and Member State law, or fair use. If you are unsure, consider seeking legal advice.
9. Other Claims
Claims concerning trademarks, breaches of game terms of service, our business as a whole or anything other than removal of specific material on copyright grounds are handled under our Rightsholder Relations & Pre-Trial Dispute Resolution procedure.
10. Contact
All notices and claims: legal@xernel.cc — Xernel’s sole official email address.