Copyright and takedowns

Send a copyright notice

We respect copyright and we only want your own work on DupeEats. If you believe something on DupeEats uses your work without permission, tell us in one of these ways:

The quickest: use the “Report” link on the page and choose “It’s my work and it was shared without my permission”. The form asks for everything below.
By email: write to dupeeats@gmail.com with “Copyright notice” in the subject.

Your notice must include:

Your signature. Your full name, typed, works as your electronic signature.
The work. A description of the copyrighted work you say is being infringed, for example “my photo of homemade fries, published on my Instagram on 2 March”, with a link if it’s online. If your notice covers several works, list them.
Where it is on DupeEats. The exact link (URL) of each page, and which photo or text on it, so we can find it.
How to contact you. Your email address. You may add a postal address and a phone number.
A good-faith statement: “I believe in good faith that this use isn’t authorized by the owner, their agent or the law.”
An accuracy statement: “The information in this notice is accurate.”
A statement under penalty of perjury: “Under penalty of perjury, I own the rights to this content or I’m authorized to act for the owner.”

If you’re not sure whether a use is allowed (for example, a short quote or a similar recipe written in someone’s own words), think about it before you send a notice: recipes as a list of ingredients and basic steps are usually not protected by copyright, but the way they’re written and the photos are.

What happens next

We confirm we received it, by email, with a reference number.
We act right away as a precaution. If the notice is complete and it’s about a community photo, a community recipe or a news item, we take that content down immediately while we review it. Notices about other content, and notices over our daily limit for automatic takedowns (a limit that prevents abuse of this form), are reviewed before anything is taken down.
We tell the person who posted it, if we have their email. We send them a summary of the notice (the work concerned and why it was reported), which may include your name, but never your email address or other contact details. We tell them how to send a counter-notice.
We review and decide. We decide in a careful, objective way, and we tell you what we decided and whether automated tools were involved. Content we take down because of a valid notice stays down, unless there’s a valid counter-notice.

Our own recipes and other pages, except news items, are never taken down automatically. If a notice is about them, we review it with priority and act quickly if it’s valid.

If your content was taken down: counter-notice

If we took down something you posted because of a copyright notice, and you believe it was a mistake or a misidentification (for example, because it’s your own photo), you can send us a counter-notice at dupeeats@gmail.com with “Counter-notice” in the subject. It must include:

your physical or electronic signature (your full name, typed);
what was taken down and where it appeared before, ideally with the reference from our email;
this statement: “Under penalty of perjury, I have a good-faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of a mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.”;
your name, postal address and phone number;
this statement: “I consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which my address is located or, if my address is outside the United States, for any judicial district in which DupeEats may be found, and I will accept service of process from the person who provided the original notice or their agent.”

We send a copy of your counter-notice, including your name and contact details, to the person who sent the original notice, because the law requires it. Unless they tell us within 10 business days that they’ve started a court action to keep the content down, we restore it 10 to 14 business days after we received your counter-notice.

If you’re in the EU or the UK, you can also simply ask a person to review our decision, without the formal statements above. See Appeals and complaints.

False notices

Under US law (17 U.S.C. §512(f)), anyone who knowingly and materially misrepresents that content is infringing, or that it was removed by mistake, may be liable for damages, including costs and attorneys’ fees. Similar rules apply elsewhere. Please don’t send a notice unless you’re sure. We may ignore notices that are clearly unfounded, and block people who repeatedly send them.

Repeat infringers

If three pieces of content sent from the same email address or the same device are taken down within 12 months because of valid copyright notices that we confirm, we permanently block that email address and that device from sending content to DupeEats. If we have an email address, we tell the person why. A takedown that is reversed after a counter-notice or an appeal doesn’t count.

Report illegal content (EU and UK)

You can tell us about any content on DupeEats that you believe is illegal under the law of the European Union, an EU country or the United Kingdom, not just copyright. Use the “Report” link on the page or write to dupeeats@gmail.com. To help us act, include:

a clear explanation of why you believe the content is illegal, and which law it breaks, if you know;
the exact link (URL) to the content;
your name and email address, so we can tell you what we decide (you can leave them out if you’re reporting child sexual abuse material);
a statement that you believe in good faith that the information in your report is accurate and complete.

We confirm we received your report, if you gave us your email. We decide in a timely, careful and objective way, and we tell you what we decided, whether automated tools were used, and how you can challenge the decision. If the content breaks our community rules, we act on it even if it isn’t illegal.

If you’re in the UK, you can use the same channels to report content you believe is illegal under UK law or harmful to children, and to complain about how we handle it. See Appeals and complaints.

Defamation, privacy and other problems

Defamation. If you believe something on DupeEats is untrue and damages your reputation or your business’s, write to dupeeats@gmail.com. Tell us your name, the exact link, what is said that you think is untrue and why, and what harm it causes. If you’re in the UK and want us to handle it under the Defamation (Operators of Websites) Regulations 2013, include everything those regulations require, including whether you know who posted it. When we can’t reach the person who posted it, we will usually remove it.
Your privacy. If a photo shows you, or content includes your personal information, use the “Report” link or write to us, and we’ll remove it. To ask about your own data, see Your privacy choices.
Trademarks. If you represent a brand, see Trademarks and non-affiliation.
Wrong information. Use “Report” and choose “The info is wrong or misleading”.
Authorities can use our points of contact in the Legal notice.

Designated agent

Send all copyright notices and counter-notices, including those under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, to dupeeats@gmail.com or through the “Report” link. We read every one.

Where our photos come from

Community photos are sent by home cooks who confirm they took them and accept our Community content license.
Illustrative photos come from free photo libraries whose licenses allow commercial use. They’re labeled “Illustrative photo”, and we credit them on Photo credits even when the license doesn’t require it.
AI-generated images are labeled as such. See How we use AI.
We never use restaurants’ official photos, logos or packaging.

If you think one of our photos is yours, use the “Report” link on the page or write to dupeeats@gmail.com, and we’ll look at it straight away.

The short version