Version: 16 October 2012 

Along with personal privacy, copyright is a major issue on the internet. Copyright is a legal concept governing the ownership of an original work and  the right to "copy" it. If you hold the copyright to an original work then others need to obtain your permission to use that work or must credit you as the creator of the work. This is usually for a limited time. Basically it is a form of intellectual property such as a patent and trademark. The sensitivity  here lies in the possibility of financial gain by a user of the work without having the right to do so. Also the owner of a work may have intended the work to be presented in a very particular way and in a very particular setting. There is a lot of information on copyright online so Google away.

At the Rugby World Directory (RWD) we respect copyright and the use of RWD is dependent upon you agreeing to our Terms in which we expressly require you to also respect original content ownership. It is important to note that RWD cannot give any legal advice with regard to whether or not your copyright has been infringed upon.

Report Infringement

Should you feel that your copyright or any form of your intellectual property has been used without your permission then we advise you to firstly, establish your actual legal position and secondly, to take this up with the Account Holder concerned. You may find that by bringing your issues to the attention of the user of your content is enough incentive for them to remove or alter the content. Should reaching out to the user not have the desired effect, and should you have a legally defendable position, then report the situation to us. Include all relevant information: contact details of both parties, description of the violation, proof of contact attempts, waiver of RWD liability, proof of ownership and the steps that you have taken to resolve the situation.

Here some relevant links to the World Intellectual Property Organisation that will help you on your way to resolving an issue:

World Intellectual Property Organisation http://www.wipo.int/portal/index.html.en

World Intellectual Property Organisation world directory http://www.wipo.int/directory/en/urls.jsp

World Intellectual Property Organisation treaties http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/wct/trtdocs_wo033.html

If you feel that we at RWD need to take action then click here to report your issue: REPORT RIGHTS    

Process - Take Down

Should you have obtained a decision by a court of law that your rights have been infringed upon then we will, upon receipt of the decision, take the appropriate action as set out in the decision.

If you have established that you have a bona fide complaint against another Account Holder then report the situation to us including all the details mentioned above. We will look at the facts and our Terms and act accordingly. This may include removing the content, terminating the offending parties Account and possibly taking Legal action should the infringement have a detrimental effect upon RWD in any way. This will all be done in a timely manner with due consultation.