Intellectual Property Policy

GestaltMatcher DB was developed by scientists to enable collaboration and sharing of content among clinician scientists, computer scientists and other professionals. We respect the intellectual property rights of others and ask that you do the same. We have a process for submitting complaints regarding content posted by our members. Our policy and procedures are described below.

Content on GestaltMatcher DB

When you create a case on GestaltMatcher DB and upload e.g. a screenshot, you do not transfer or assign copyright to us. Rather, you make the content available to the public through GestaltMatcher DB. You retain the right to remove such content from GestaltMatcher DB at any time, or to archive your content so it is available only to you and your co-author(s).

If you choose to privately archive or publicly post content, we encourage you to first confirm your rights before doing so. As we do not have any information about rights you may hold, or any license terms or other restrictions which might apply to such content, we necessarily rely on you to understand your rights and act accordingly. For this reason, we request that you fully investigate and confirm that you have sufficient rights to post particular content to GestaltMatcher DB before you do so. As a general matter, if you are an author publishing in a journal, you may be allowed to publish certain versions of your article, but not others, and privately share certain content with others. However, many journals restrict publication of final versions and impose limitations on private sharing.

Your starting point for understanding your rights is the agreement(s) you have with your publisher or other rights owner. If you’re still unsure about what you’re allowed to share on GestaltMatcher DB, we recommend that you get in touch directly with your publisher.

Complaints regarding content posted on GestaltMatcher DB

It is our policy to respond to notices of claimed copyright infringement submitted by rights owners in accordance with the notice and takedown procedures found in section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (United States) and the European eCommerce Directive, detailed below. Our Designated Agent for receiving notices of claimed copyright and other intellectual property infringement is:
Copyright Agent
GeneTalk GmbH
Venusberg Campus 1
5319 Bonn
Germany
Email: copyright@gene-talk.de
Telephone: +49 (0) 287 228 14733

Please be aware that, regardless of whether we disable access to or remove the content complained about, we may forward your written notification, including your contact information, to the member who posted the content, and/or take other reasonable steps to notify the member that we have received notice of an alleged violation of copyright or intellectual property rights.

Please also remember that, if you choose to request removal of content by submitting an infringement notification, you are initiating a legal process. Any notice or counter-notice you submit must be truthful and must be submitted under penalty of perjury. A false notice or counter-notice may give rise to personal liability. You may therefore wish to seek the advice of legal counsel before submitting a notice or counter-notice.

Copyright and other intellectual property infringement notification requirements

Please note that if you are not a copyright owner or authorized to act on behalf of a copyright owner, we must ask that you contact the copyright owner and ask them to submit a notice of claimed infringement. If you are a copyright owner, US, European and other laws require that your notice of claimed infringement follow a specific form and needs to contains all the required information, including:

  1. The name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address of the complaining party.
  2. A description of the copyrighted work(s) or other intellectual property claimed to have been infringed and the country of claimed rights.
  3. A description of where the allegedly infringing material is located on GestaltMatcher DB, with information sufficient to permit us to locate the material. In order for us to be able to accurately identify and remove content notified to be infringing, it is necessary to provide the specific URL for the actual file and not the URL of the publication page where the file is displayed, as the content displayed on a publication page can change. You can identify the URL of a particular file by clicking on the downward-facing arrow at the top-right corner of a publication page, selecting "Full-text sources," right clicking on the respective download button of the file and copying the link address.
  4. A statement that the complaining party "has a good faith belief that the use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law."
  5. A statement that "the information in this notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed."
  6. An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other right that is allegedly infringed.

Note: If you are asserting infringement of an intellectual property right other than copyright, please specify the intellectual property right at issue (for example, "trademark").

Upon receiving notice of a claimed infringement that complies with the above requirements, we will expeditiously remove or disable access to the allegedly infringing material and will notify the member who posted it. At that time, we will also provide the member with an email address which may be used to contact the complaining party with any questions, or if they think a mistake has been made.

Repeat infringer policy

In accordance with applicable law, we have a repeat infringer policy that provides for the disabling of a member's uploading rights or termination of their membership in appropriate circumstances.

Counter notice requirements

GestaltMatcher DB recognizes that sometimes content may be mistakenly identified by a rights owner as infringing their rights. In the event such a mistake occurs, you should first contact the complaining party directly using the email address provided to you. GestaltMatcher DB will allow you to re-upload the content upon receipt of an acknowledgement of the error from the complaining party.

If the complaining party does not agree that their request for removal was in error, you may submit a counter notice.

Alternatively, you can submit a written communication to GestaltMatcher DB’s Designated Agent (contact details above). To be effective, your counter notice must include substantially the following:

We will not be able to consider your counter notice unless you fill out the form in its entirety, and physically sign it. Please make sure that the counter notice you send to GestaltMatcher DB is legible; if we cannot read your handwriting we will not be able to process it.

Upon receiving the original of your fully completed counter notice, GestaltMatcher DB will provide the complaining party with a copy of your notice. We will also inform them that we will allow you to replace the removed material after 10 business days, unless GestaltMatcher DB’s Designated Agent receives notice from the complaining party that it has filed an action seeking a court order to restrain you from engaging in infringing activity relating to the material on GestaltMatcher DB. If the complaining party notifies us in writing that they no longer object to the material being made available, we will allow you to repost it.