Copyright & DMCA Policy

1. Writers Own Their Work

When you submit a story to Writing Café Journal, you keep full ownership of your creative work. By submitting, you grant us a non-exclusive license to publish and display your work on this platform and in our official communications, nothing more. You are free to publish your work elsewhere, with a credit to Writing Café Journal as the original publisher.

We do not claim any rights to your story beyond what is necessary to display it on this site. We will never sell, license, or transfer your work to a third party without your explicit consent.

2. Writing Café Journal's Own Copyright

The Writing Café Journal brand, site design, logo, original editorial content, curation, and all materials created by Writing Café Journal staff are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced, distributed, or used without express written permission.

This includes but is not limited to: our site name and wordmark, editor written content, our category structure, curated collections, and all visual design elements.

3. Our Submission Standards and Plagiarism

All submissions must be original, human-authored works. Submitting plagiarized content, work copied from another author, published source, or AI generated output is a violation of our Submission Guidelines and our Terms of Use.

If we discover that a published story was plagiarized, we will remove it immediately and the submitting author will be permanently banned from the platform.

4. How to File a DMCA Takedown Notice

If you believe that content on Writing Café Journal infringes your copyright, you may submit a written DMCA takedown notice to our designated agent. To be valid, your notice must include all of the following:

Send your completed DMCA notice to: legal@writingcafejournal.com

We will review all valid notices and respond promptly. If the claim is valid, the infringing content will be removed or disabled and the submitting user will be notified and may face account action.

5. Counter-Notice Procedure

If your content was removed in response to a DMCA notice and you believe the removal was in error or based on misidentification, you may submit a written counter-notice. A valid counter-notice must include:

• Your name, address, phone number, and email address.
• Identification of the removed material and its location before removal.
• A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief the material was removed by mistake or misidentification.
• A statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the applicable federal court and will accept service of process from the person who filed the original notice.
• Your physical or electronic signature.

If we receive a valid counter notice, we may restore the removed content after providing the original complainant with a copy of the counter-notice and a 10-business-day waiting period, unless the complainant files a court action.

6. Repeat Infringers

Writing Café Journal has a strict policy against repeat infringers. Any user who is found to have submitted infringing content more than once will be permanently banned from the platform.

7. Misuse of DMCA Process

Filing a false DMCA notice is a serious matter. Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), any person who knowingly misrepresents that material is infringing may be subject to liability for damages. Please only file a notice if you have a genuine, good faith belief that your copyright has been infringed.