DMCA & Copyright Policy

Future Football Stars respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects users of the Platform to do the same. The Platform is operated under the laws of England and Wales, and copyright in the United Kingdom is governed principally by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. As an internationally accessible platform, we voluntarily adopt the notice-and-takedown procedures of the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (“DMCA”), 17 U.S.C. § 512, as a widely recognised industry standard. This policy describes our procedures for addressing copyright infringement claims under these frameworks and under equivalent intellectual property laws in other jurisdictions.

The Platform does not host or store video files. Account holders link to videos hosted on YouTube; video content is delivered directly from YouTube’s infrastructure. The DMCA process described in this policy applies to content that exists directly on the Platform, including:

• Profile photographs and images uploaded to player profiles and stored on our own cloud storage (Amazon Web Services S3).
• Biographical text, descriptions, and other written content submitted to player profiles.
• Community comments submitted by account holders.
• Thumbnail images displayed for linked YouTube videos (retrieved via the YouTube Data API v3).
• Any other user-submitted content hosted on our servers and displayed on the Platform.

For YouTube-hosted video content that has been linked on the Platform, rights holders should submit copyright claims directly to YouTube via YouTube’s Content ID system or YouTube’s copyright complaint process, in addition to notifying us (see Section 9 below).

Platform-generated content. News articles published on the Platform are AI-assisted editorial content produced by or on behalf of Future Football Stars. This content is our own material and is not user-submitted; it is therefore not subject to the user-content takedown process. If you believe a news article reproduces third-party material in which you hold rights, or references a source without authorisation, you may raise the matter directly with our DMCA Agent (see Section 8) and we will review it under the framework of this policy.

If you believe that content on the Platform infringes your copyright, you may submit a written DMCA takedown notice to our designated DMCA Agent at:

info@futurefootballstars4u.com

To be valid under the DMCA, your notice must include all of the following elements:

• Identification of the copyrighted work: a description of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed, or, if your notice covers multiple works, a representative list.
• Identification of the infringing content: a sufficiently specific description of the content you claim is infringing and its location on the Platform, including the URL of the relevant page or profile.
• Your contact information: your name, organisation (if applicable), mailing address, telephone number, and email address.
• Good-faith statement: a statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorised by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
• Accuracy statement: a statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorised to act on behalf of the copyright owner.
• Signature: a physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or their authorised representative.

Incomplete notices will not be processed. We may request additional information to verify the claim before taking action.

Important: submitting a materially false DMCA takedown notice may expose you to civil liability under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f).

Upon receipt of a complete and valid DMCA takedown notice, we will:

• Review the notice and the identified content within 10 business days.
• Where the notice is valid and the content falls within our control, remove or disable access to the identified content pending resolution of the claim.
• Notify the user who submitted the affected content that it has been removed or disabled, and provide them with a copy of the takedown notice (with your contact details, where legally permissible, for the purpose of counter-notice).

If you believe that content removed or disabled in response to a DMCA takedown notice was removed in error or that you have the right to use the content, you may submit a counter-notice to our DMCA Agent at info@futurefootballstars4u.com.

Your counter-notice must include all elements required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3):

• Your physical or electronic signature.
• Identification of the content that was removed and its location on the Platform before removal.
• A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief that the content was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification.
• Your name, address, and telephone number.
• 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 Future Football Stars may be found, and that you will accept service of process from the person who submitted the DMCA notice or their agent.

Note for users outside the United States. The jurisdiction and service-of-process statement above reflects the standard DMCA counter-notice format, which we adopt for consistency. The Platform is governed by the laws of England and Wales, and nothing in this counter-notice requirement overrides or displaces any mandatory rights or protections available to you under the law of your own country of residence. If the US-specific consent language cannot lawfully apply to you, submit an equivalent statement consenting to the courts of England and Wales, and we will treat your counter-notice as validly submitted.

Upon receipt of a valid counter-notice, we will forward it to the original complainant and restore the removed content within 10 to 14 business days unless the original complainant notifies us that they have filed an action seeking a court order to restrain you from engaging in the allegedly infringing activity.

In accordance with 17 U.S.C. § 512(i), Future Football Stars has adopted a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of users who are deemed to be repeat infringers:

• After a first upheld DMCA violation, the user receives a formal written warning.
• After a second upheld DMCA violation, the user’s account is suspended pending review.
• After a third upheld DMCA violation, the user’s account is permanently terminated.

We maintain an internal repeat infringer log. An “upheld violation” is one where a valid takedown notice was received, the identified content was within our control, and no valid counter-notice was submitted within the permitted timeframe.

Account holders create player profiles and frequently link to YouTube videos that contain footage filmed at training sessions, matches, tournaments, and academies. All account holders are adults, and each account holder is responsible for the content they submit, including profiles they create on behalf of a minor child. Users should be aware of the following:

• Club and academy footage: footage filmed at club facilities or training sessions may be subject to the club’s or academy’s intellectual property rights, including broadcast or image rights policies.
• Tournament footage: footage of competitive matches may be subject to exclusivity agreements, broadcast rights, or tournament organisers’ IP policies.
• Broadcast commentary and graphics: user-submitted linked videos containing copyrighted commentary, production graphics, or broadcast overlays may be subject to copyright claims by broadcasters.

By linking video content to a profile, the account holder warrants that they have the right to share that content as described in the Terms of Service. Clubs, academies, tournament organisers, and broadcasters whose content has been linked without authorisation may submit a DMCA notice to info@futurefootballstars4u.com.

Our designated DMCA agent for receipt of takedown notices is:

Future Football Stars
Attn: DMCA Agent
Email: info@futurefootballstars4u.com

All DMCA correspondence must be addressed to the DMCA Agent. Notices submitted via other channels may not be processed.

YouTube-linked videos are independently subject to YouTube’s Content ID copyright management system. Rights holders who have registered with YouTube’s Content ID programme may assert claims against linked videos directly on YouTube, independent of this policy.

We strongly encourage rights holders to submit Content ID claims directly to YouTube for linked video content. Submitting a DMCA notice to us will result in the removal of the video link from Platform profiles, but will not remove the video from YouTube itself.

If YouTube removes a video in response to a Content ID claim or YouTube copyright complaint, we will update the linked player profile to reflect that the video is unavailable.