Copyright and DMCA policy

TaleTykes, Inc. ("TaleTykes", "we") respects the rights of authors, illustrators and other creators, and we expect people who use TaleTykes to do the same. This policy explains how we respond to claims of copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), 17 U.S.C. 512, and how we handle trademark complaints. It is part of our Terms of service.

This policy is about intellectual property. To report a book that isn't right for a child, use Report this book or write to safety@taletykes.com, as our Content standards describe.

Our designated agent

Send copyright notices and counter-notices to our designated agent:

• Copyright Agent, TaleTykes, Inc.
• Email: copyright@taletykes.com
• Mailing address: available on request from copyright@taletykes.com.

Our designation will be listed on the U.S. Copyright Office's DMCA agent directory. Email is the fastest way to reach our agent. Notices sent to other addresses may be delayed.

The copyright agent handles only notices about copyright and trademarks. Other messages sent to that address may not get a reply. For help with your account, use Contact us.

What a copyright notice must contain

If you believe material in TaleTykes infringes a copyright you own or are authorized to act for, send our agent a written notice. Under 17 U.S.C. 512(c)(3), a notice must include:

1. A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or of a person authorized to act on the owner's behalf.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed, or, if several works are covered by one notice, a representative list of them.
3. Identification of the material you claim is infringing and that you want removed or disabled, with enough information for us to find it. For a book, give the book's title and, if you can, the page, a screenshot, or the web address of the book's page.
4. Information that lets us contact you, such as your name, mailing address, telephone number and email address.
5. A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use of the material in the way complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
6. A statement that the information in the notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on the owner's behalf.

A notice that leaves out one of these may not be valid. If a notice is incomplete, we may ask you for the missing details.

Please don't include a child's personal information in a notice. If the material is in a family's private space, describe it as best you can, and we will find it.

What we do when we receive a valid notice

When we receive a notice that meets the requirements above, we:

• remove the material, or disable access to it, promptly;
• take reasonable steps to tell the account holder who provided or requested the material, and give them a copy of the notice or a summary of it;
• record the notice for our repeat infringer policy.

Most books in TaleTykes are made by our own system, not uploaded by users. If a notice is about a book we made, we review it, remove the book or the part of it involved where appropriate, and fix the cause where we can, such as a rule our checks missed.

We may share a notice, with personal contact details removed, with the person whose material was removed, and we may share it with others where the law requires.

Counter-notices

If material you provided was removed because of a copyright notice, and you believe it was removed by mistake or because it was misidentified, you can send our agent a counter-notice. Under 17 U.S.C. 512(g)(3), a counter-notice must include:

1. Your physical or electronic signature.
2. Identification of the material that was removed or disabled, and where it appeared before it was removed.
3. A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification.
4. Your name, address and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for the judicial district in which your address is located (or, if your address is outside the United States, any judicial district in which TaleTykes may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the person who sent the original notice, or their agent.

When we receive a valid counter-notice, we send a copy to the person who sent the original notice. We tell them we will restore the material, or stop disabling access to it, in 10 business days. We restore it no sooner than 10 and no later than 14 business days after we received the counter-notice, unless our agent first receives notice that the person who sent the original notice has filed a court action seeking to stop you from engaging in the infringing activity on TaleTykes.

Counter-notices apply to material you provided. Books we generate are ours, and we decide whether to restore them.

Repeat infringer policy

We close, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of users who repeatedly infringe the copyrights of others. In deciding what is appropriate, we consider:

• the number of valid notices about material an account provided, and over what period;
• whether counter-notices were filed and whether any material was restored;
• whether the infringement appears to be deliberate;
• any other information that suggests an account is being used to infringe.

We may also limit features, such as free-text requests, for an account that receives valid notices. An account closed under this policy follows the closure and refund rules in our Terms of service. If you think your account was closed by mistake, you can appeal by writing to copyright@taletykes.com.

Misrepresentation

Under 17 U.S.C. 512(f), anyone who knowingly and materially misrepresents that material is infringing, or that material was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification, may be liable for damages, including costs and attorneys' fees, suffered by the person harmed. Before you send a notice, consider whether the use could be a fair use or otherwise allowed by law. If you aren't sure whether material infringes your copyright, talk to a lawyer before you send a notice. We may disregard notices or counter-notices we believe are abusive or sent in bad faith.

AI-generated books and originality

Books in TaleTykes are written and illustrated with AI models from settings our system chooses. Our Content standards require every book to be original:

• no real brands, franchises, celebrities or copyrighted characters;
• no text copied from published books, songs, poems or other works still under copyright;
• no pictures drawn to look like a known character, artist's signature style, logo or product;
• grown-ups' requests that name a known character or franchise are refused or changed before any book is made.

These rules are part of the checks every book must pass, and a book that fails a check is never shown to a child. Checks aren't perfect. AI models learn from large amounts of material, and a book may sometimes come too close to an existing work. When that happens, we want to know, and we fix it.

Material created with AI may have limited or no copyright protection under US law. That doesn't change our commitment to avoid copying others' work.

Reporting a book that looks like a known character or work

If you think a TaleTykes book copies or closely imitates an existing character, story, picture or other work:

• if you are a parent or teacher, use Report this book on the book's page and choose the reason that fits best, or email safety@taletykes.com with the book's title;
• if you are the owner of the work, or act for the owner, send a notice to copyright@taletykes.com as described above.

We review the book, remove it from shelves if it copies or imitates a protected work, and check other books made by the same route. You don't need to be the copyright owner to report a book through Report this book, and a report from a parent or teacher isn't a DMCA notice.

Trademark complaints

If you believe something in TaleTykes uses your trademark in a way that is likely to confuse people, such as a book that shows a brand or logo, or an account that pretends to be your organization, email copyright@taletykes.com with:

• your name and contact information;
• the trademark, and the countries or registration numbers where it is registered, if any;
• where in TaleTykes the use appears, with enough detail for us to find it;
• why you believe the use is likely to cause confusion or is otherwise unlawful;
• a statement that the information in your complaint is accurate and that you are the trademark owner or authorized to act for the owner.

We review trademark complaints and may remove or change the material, contact the account holder, or take other action as our Acceptable use policy describes.

Our own rights

The TaleTykes name, logo and book-stack mark are trademarks of TaleTykes, Inc. The software, design, books and other material in the Service belong to TaleTykes or our licensors, as our Terms of service describe. The fonts, data and open-source software we use are credited on our Licenses and credits page. To ask about using our material, write to legal@taletykes.com.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. We post the new version on this page with the date it was updated.