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\nYard Flag respects the work of artists, illustrators, photographers and writers, and we expect the same from everyone who uses yardflag.shop. This page explains how to tell us if you believe something on our site copies your copyrighted work, what your notice needs to contain, how we handle it, and what someone can do if they believe material was removed by mistake. Trademark, design and name concerns are covered on our Intellectual Property Policy. All copyright notices go by email to support@yardflag.shop.
\nYard Flag is a single shop. We do not host other sellers, and there is no marketplace on the site. Everything on yardflag.shop is published by us, with one small exception: text that customers type into personalised products. This page covers all of it:
\nThe process follows the notice-and-takedown steps of the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512). We apply the same steps to notices from rights holders in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the other countries we sell to, while respecting any process their own laws give them.
\nSeasonal decor shares a lot of common ground. Cardinals on evergreen boughs, rows of tulips, sunflowers, pumpkins on a step, stars and bunting, a lantern by a door: these subjects are drawn by thousands of artists, and the subject itself belongs to no one. Copyright protects a particular drawing, photograph or piece of writing, not the idea of a robin’s nest or a jack-o’-lantern.
\nSo the useful question is not “does this flag also show a cardinal?” but “does this flag reproduce my cardinal, my composition, my linework or my photograph?” If you have compared the two closely and believe it does, we want to hear from you. If you are unsure, you may wish to get legal advice before sending a formal notice, because a formal notice is a statement made under penalty of perjury.
\nYou can also simply email us first with a question. A short message such as “your Robin’s Nest flag looks close to a design I sell; can you tell me where your artwork comes from?” is welcome, and we reply within 24 hours on business days. An informal question is not a DMCA notice, but it often settles things quickly.
\nFor us to act on a notice, it needs all six of these elements. Missing elements slow everything down, because we have to write back and ask for them.
\nSend it to support@yardflag.shop with the subject line “Copyright notice”. Plain text in the email body is easiest for us to read; attachments are fine for images of your original work.
\nAn illustrator finds a harvest design on our site that she believes copies a pumpkin painting she sells as prints. Her email has the subject “Copyright notice”. It names her painting and links to her own shop listing for it. It gives the full address of our product page and says the main image and the doormat preview both show the copied artwork. It includes her name, postal address, phone number and email, the two required statements, and her typed name as signature. That notice is complete, and we can start our review the same day we read it.
\n“You stole my design” with no page address, no original and no contact details gives us nothing to compare. A notice that names a whole category, such as “all your fall flags”, without saying which designs and which original works, also cannot be checked. Please point us to the specific item and the specific work.
\n| Step | \nWhat happens | \n
|---|---|
| Acknowledge | \nWe reply within 24 hours on business days to say the notice has been received. | \n
| Check completeness | \nIf any of the six elements is missing, we ask for it. | \n
| Compare | \nWe compare the material on our page with the original work you identified. | \n
| Act | \nIf the notice is valid, we remove the material or disable access to it, and take the product out of sale where the artwork itself is the problem. | \n
| Confirm | \nWe email you to confirm what was removed. | \n
We review notices as quickly as we can. A clear notice about a single image is usually simple; a notice about a design that appears across a flag, a mat and a sign in the same season set takes a little longer because every page showing it has to be found and handled.
\nIf a design is removed after a notice, it is taken out of sale on the site. If you ordered that design before it was removed and have a question about your order, email us with your order number. Your right to return any item within 60 days of delivery is not affected, and the Returns & Exchanges Policy applies as usual.
\nFour of our products print text that the buyer types: the Family Name Welcome Flag, the Family Name Doormat, the Family Name Porch Leaner Sign and the Family Name Mailbox Cover. The fields are short on purpose: a family name of up to 18 characters, an optional four-digit “Est.” year and, on the mailbox cover, an optional house number of up to 6 characters. A surname such as The Garcias or The Nguyens is not a creative work, so copyright questions about these fields are rare.
\nStill, our Terms of Service ask buyers not to type anything they do not have the right to use, such as a line from a song, a slogan from a film or a character’s catchphrase. We print exactly what is typed, and no proof is sent before production, so a buyer is responsible for the words they enter. If you believe a personalised item made by us reproduces your protected text, send a notice in the usual way and say which order or page it relates to, if you know.
\nIf material was removed because of a notice and you are the person who provided it, and you believe it was removed by mistake or because it was misidentified, you may send us a counter-notification. In practice, for a shop like ours this mostly applies to an artist who licensed a design to us, or to a customer whose own text was questioned.
\nA counter-notification must include:
\nSend it to support@yardflag.shop with the subject line “Counter-notification”. We forward a valid counter-notification to the person who sent the original notice. Under the DMCA, the material may be restored in 10 to 14 business days after we receive the counter-notification, unless the original sender tells us they have filed a court action seeking to restrain the activity.
\nUnder 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), anyone who knowingly makes a material misrepresentation in a notice or a counter-notification may be liable for damages, including costs and legal fees. Please send a notice only when you have a genuine, good-faith belief that your copyright is being infringed. Notices sent to remove a competitor’s ordinary seasonal design, or a common subject such as a sunflower row, do not meet that standard.
\nIf the same person or supplier is the source of material that is repeatedly the subject of valid notices, we stop using material from that source. If a customer account is used to submit infringing text again and again, we may close that account.
\nCopyright is one part of the picture. Trademarks, team and league names, characters, brand names, seals and emblems, and the right of a real person not to have their name or face used without permission are covered on the Intellectual Property Policy. How we handle the personal details you include in a notice is explained in the Privacy Policy. When we forward a notice or counter-notification to the other side, we share it as the law describes, and you should assume your name and contact details may be included.
\nFor copyright matters, email support@yardflag.shop with the subject line “Copyright notice” or “Counter-notification”. Our postal address is Yard Flag, 1017 Evening Star Dr, Roaming Shores, OH 44085, US. Email is the only way to reach us quickly, and we reply within 24 hours on business days. For order questions, use Contact Us or the Help Center instead, so copyright mail and order mail stay in separate threads.
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