Copyright and DMCA Policy

Elite Captures, doing business as Elite Captures (“we”, “us” or “our”), creates photographs and films for clients across the United States. This policy explains who owns the content on our website, what you may and may not do with it, and how to report content you believe infringes your copyright.

It applies to our website at https://elitecapturesny.com, our client and crew portals, and the galleries and films we share online (together, the “Site”). It forms part of our Terms of Use.

Who owns our work

All photographs, films, audio, text, graphics, page designs and other content on the Site are owned by Elite Captures or licensed to us by their owners. They are protected by the Copyright Act (17 U.S.C.) and other laws. Unless a signed agreement says otherwise, we own the copyright in the photographs and films we create, including work we have delivered to clients.

Delivering a gallery, selling prints or showing work on the Site does not transfer copyright to anyone. Clients receive a license to use their delivered work, as our Image Licensing and Usage Policy explains.

What is not allowed

Unless we give you written permission, or the law allows the use (for example, as a fair use), you may not:

• download, screenshot, screen record or otherwise copy photographs or films from the Site, other than your own delivered gallery as your license allows;
• repost our work on websites, social media accounts, marketplaces or anywhere else (sharing a link to our page, or sharing our own posts with a platform’s built-in share feature, is fine);
• remove, crop out, cover or change our watermarks, credits or file metadata, which are protected “copyright management information” under 17 U.S.C. § 1202;
• edit our work or create new works from it;
• present our work as your own, including in a portfolio or contest entry;
• use our work in advertising or marketing, on products or packaging, or in any way that suggests we endorse you or your business; or
• use our work to train, fine-tune or test artificial intelligence or machine learning systems, or collect it by scraping, crawling or other automated means.

Asking for permission or a license

We are glad to consider requests. Email business email with:

• a link to, or screenshot of, the photograph or film;
• how and where you would like to use it; and
• how long you would like to use it, and whether the use is personal, editorial or commercial.

Permission is valid only when we give it in writing, and only for the use we describe. Our Image Licensing and Usage Policy explains how we license work to clients, vendors, publications and businesses.

Reporting infringement on our Site

We respect the rights of other creators. If you believe that material on the Site, including material a client or crew member uploaded to one of our portals, infringes your copyright, you may send a written notice to our designated agent under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), 17 U.S.C. § 512(c).

Before you send a notice, please consider whether the use may be a fair use or otherwise allowed by law. This process is for copyright claims only. If you would like a photograph of yourself removed, or you have another concern, email business email instead.

Send your notice to our designated agent:

• Designated agent: Copyright Agent
• Company: Elite Captures
• Mail: [business address]
• Email: copyright email

Your notice must include all of the following:

1. Your physical or electronic signature, as the copyright owner or a person authorized to act for the owner.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed or, if your notice covers several works, a representative list of them.
3. Identification of the material you claim is infringing, with information reasonably sufficient for us to locate it, such as the web address (URL) of each item.
4. Your name, mailing address, telephone number and email address.
5. A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law.
6. A statement that the information in your notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on the owner’s behalf.

What happens after a notice

When we receive a notice that includes these elements, we will act promptly to remove or disable access to the material. If someone else posted it, we will make reasonable efforts to tell them, and we may send them a copy of your notice, including your name and contact details, so they can respond. If a notice is missing required information, we may contact you to ask for it.

Counter-notification

If material you posted was removed or disabled because of a notice, and you believe this happened because of a mistake or misidentification, you may send a counter-notification to our designated agent at the address above. Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(g), it must include:

1. Your physical or electronic signature.
2. Identification of the material that was removed or disabled, and the location where it appeared before it was removed or disabled.
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 where your address is located (or, if your address is outside the United States, any judicial district in which we may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the person who sent the original notice or that person’s agent.

When we receive a valid counter-notification, we will send a copy to the person who sent the original notice and tell them that we will restore the material in 10 business days. We will then restore the material 10 to 14 business days after we received the counter-notification, unless our designated agent first receives notice that the person who sent the original notice has filed a court action seeking to stop the claimed infringement.

Repeat infringers

In appropriate circumstances, we will suspend or close the accounts of users who repeatedly infringe copyrights, including client portal and crew portal accounts. This includes accounts that are the subject of more than one valid infringement notice that has not been successfully countered. We may also remove content or restrict an account after a single notice when we believe that is appropriate.

False or misleading notices

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. If you are not sure whether material infringes your rights, consider speaking with an attorney before you send a notice or counter-notification.

If you see our work used elsewhere

Please tell us if you see our photographs or films used without permission or credit, for example on another photographer’s website, a business page, a marketplace listing or a social media account. Email business email with a link to where you saw it, and a screenshot if you can.

If you are one of our clients and you see your own photographs or films used this way, please tell us too. Because we own the copyright, we can take steps that you may not be able to take yourself.

We review each report and decide on the right response. That may be a request to add credit, an offer of a license, a takedown notice to the website or platform, or other action the Copyright Act allows.

Contact us

• Licensing and permission: business email
• Copyright notices: copyright email
• Mail: Elite Captures, [business address]

This page is general information about our policies and is not legal advice. See also our Image Licensing and Usage Policy and Terms of Use.