Consolidating IP and name policies

title: Content Removal Guidelines

---

## DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown request requirements

## DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown requests

We take the intellectual property rights of others seriously and require that our users do the same. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) established a process for addressing claims of copyright infringement. If you own a copyright or have authority to act on behalf of a copyright owner and want to make a claim that a third party is infringing that copyright on or through GitLab's services, send a notice that meets the minimum requirements of the DMCA to `dmca@gitlab.com`, and we will take appropriate action.

We take the intellectual property rights of others seriously and require that our users do the same. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) established a process for addressing claims of copyright infringement. If you own a copyright or have authority to act on behalf of a copyright owner and want to make a claim that a third party is infringing that copyright on or through GitLab's services, [Submitting a DMCA notice](#submitting-a-dmca-notice) section below.

### DMCA notice requirements

### Submitting a DMCA notice

You must include:

If you believe that someone is infringing on your copyright as the copyright owner, you can send a DMCA notice to dmca@gitlab.com.

Your DMCA notice must include the following information:

1. **Identify the copyrighted work.** A description of the copyrighted work that you claim is being infringed;

1. **Identify the allegedly-infringing material.** A description of the material you claim is infringing and that you want removed or access to which you want disabled and the URL or other location of that material;

1. **Include the following statement:** "The information in this notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, I am the owner, or authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of the copyright or of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed"; and

1. **Signature.** An electronic or physical signature of the owner of the copyright or a person authorized to act on the owner’s behalf.

Submissions under this DMCA Policy should be sent to dmca@gitlab.com.

Notices with missing or inaccurate information cannot be processed. Upon receipt of a deficient notice, a member of our team may reach out to you for more information.

#### What happens next?

We will review your DMCA notice. If we verify that you have submitted the required information, we will take whatever action we deem appropriate under the DMCA, which may include the removal of the challenged content from the website or disabling access to the account(s) of the reported user(s).

Valid notices will be forwarded to the reported account owner, allowing them to submit a counter notice or remove the content from gitlab.com. If a responsive counter notice is deemed valid, we will forward it to you for further action.

### Responding to a DMCA notice

We will review your submission and take whatever action we deem appropriate under the DMCA, including the removal of the challenged content from the website. Furthermore, we may, in appropriate circumstances, disable access or terminate the account(s) of the reported user(s).

If you receive a gitlab.com DMCA notice for content that is in your control, you can respond to the notice by:

### DMCA counter-notice requirements

1. removing the reported content from gitlab.com, or

1. if you believe your content is mistakenly the subject of the DMCA notice, you have the right to contest the notice by submitting a DMCA counter notice by following [the instructions below](#submitting-a-dmca-counter-notice).

The owner of the allegedly-infringing content may submit a DMCA counter-notice to dmca@gitlab.com. The counter-notice must comply with the requirements of the DMCA, and must include the following:

If you do not respond or take no action with regard to a DMCA notice we send to you, the reported content will be made private, and we may take further action we deem appropriate under the DMCA.

### Submitting a DMCA counter notice

If it is not possible to come to an agreement with the reporting copyright owner, the content owner may submit a DMCA counter notice to dmca@gitlab.com within ten (10) business days of the date of receiving our notice. If we receive a valid counter notice, we will email a copy of the notice to the copyright owner.

Your DMCA counter notice must include the following information:

1. **Contact Information.** Your name, title (if acting as an agent), physical address, email address, and phone number;

1. **Content Identification.** A reasonable identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been blocked;

1. **Consent to service of process.** Include the following statement: "I will accept service of process from the person who provided the original notification or an agent of such person"; and

1. **Signature.** An electronic or physical signature of the owner of the copyright or the person authorized to act on the owner's behalf.

We will review the counter-notice, and:

#### What happens next?

- if the counter-notice doesn't satisfy the DMCA requirements, we'll request a revised submission; or

- if the counter-notice is complete and valid, we'll forward the counter-notice to the person who filed the original takedown notice, advising that the challenged content will be reinstated within 10-14 business days, unless we receive a notification that the copyright owner is seeking a court order regarding this matter.

We will review the counter notice, and:

- if the counter notice doesn't satisfy the DMCA requirements, we'll request a revised submission; or

- if the counter notice is complete and valid, we'll forward the counter notice to the person who filed the original takedown notice, advising that the challenged content will be reinstated within 10-14 business days, unless we receive a notification that the copyright owner is seeking a court order regarding this matter.

## Anti-Circumvention Technology

We will review your complaint and take whatever action we deem appropriate under the DMCA, including the removal of the challenged content. Furthermore, we may, in appropriate circumstances, disable access or terminate the account(s) of the reported user(s).

## Trademark takedown request requirements

If you want to report content on GitLab that you believe infringes your trademark, provide the following information:

1. Details of the original trademark (and a description if it's a logo).

1. A list of the countries in which the trademark is registered.

1. The registration number(s) of the trademark.

1. A scanned copy of the trademark registration certificate(s) or screenshot of the registration on the website or database of the applicable national intellectual property office(s).

1. A declaration of the following statement: "By submitting this notice, I state that I have a good-faith belief that the reported use, in the manner that I have complained of, is not authorized by the intellectual property rights owner, its agent or the law; that the information contained in this notice is accurate; and, under penalty of perjury, that I am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the intellectual property rights at issue".

You can send this information to dmca@gitlab.com, you should receive an automated confirmation of receipt.

## Namespaces and other disputes

Disputes regarding namespaces, group ownership, and trademarks are not governed by DMCA. Please refer to our [Namespace and Trademark Policy](https://support.gitlab.com/hc/en-us/articles/11626493890844-GitLab-com-Specific-Support-Policies#namespace-&-trademarks) and [Ownership Dispute Policy](https://support.gitlab.com/hc/en-us/articles/11626493890844-GitLab-com-Specific-Support-Policies#ownership-disputes) for further information.

## EU Illegal Content Reporting

The DSA requires hosting services to provide a method for people to report content that is potentially illegal in the EU.

For non-logged-in users, our tracking relies on standard web analytics technologies. This methodology has inherent limitations, as users who access GitLab from multiple devices or browsers, or who have certain privacy settings enabled, may be counted more than once in our calculations. Conversely, multiple users sharing the same device might be undercounted. This means our reported number represents our best estimate of unique recipients based on available data. This approach is consistent with the DSA's guidance that providers should not perform specific tracking of individuals online to avoid double counting. During the current reporting period, GitLab identified an anomalous increase in traffic patterns affecting logged‑out visitor counts on gitlab.com, which is reflected in the reported figure. GitLab is reviewing and improving its measurement methodology to better account for automated traffic and intends to implement these improvements for future reporting periods.

This information is provided solely to satisfy the requirements of the DSA and should not be used for any other purpose. This information may differ from user metrics, such as registered users, reported in other contexts.

## Namespaces and other disputes

Disputes regarding namespaces, group ownership, and trademarks may be governed by other policies. Please refer to [Intellectual Property on GitLab.com](/handbook/security/security-operations/trustandsafety/intellectual-property-on-gitlab-com) and our [Ownership Dispute policy](https://support.gitlab.com/hc/en-us/articles/11626493890844-GitLab-com-Specific-Support-Policies#ownership-disputes) for further information.