Legal

Copyright & DMCA Policy

Last updated: July 16, 2026

Our commitment

Apace respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects the people who use Apace to do the same. Books uploaded to Apace belong to the users who upload them and are their responsibility: by uploading a book, a user represents that they own it or have the rights needed to upload it and read it with the people they invite. We respond to valid notices of claimed copyright infringement submitted under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512, the “DMCA”), and this page explains how to send one.

How uploads work on Apace

Uploaded books on Apace are private. A book a user uploads appears only on that user's own shelf and is readable only by the people that user invites into a private reading room. There is no public catalog, browsing, search, or discovery of uploads, and uploaded books have no public URLs. This matters for takedown notices: you will not be able to point us at a public link, and you do not need to — see the note under item 2 below.

Filing a takedown notice

If you believe that material stored on Apace infringes your copyright, send our designated agent (below) a written notification that includes substantially all of the following, per 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3):

1. Identification of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed — or, if one notice covers multiple works, a representative list of those works.
2. Identification of the allegedly infringing material and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate it. Because uploads on Apace are private and have no public URLs, the title of the book (and the author, if known) together with the username or account email of the user who uploaded it is sufficient for us to locate the material. If you don't know who uploaded it, describe how you learned of the upload and we will investigate.
3. Your contact information: your name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address.
4. A good-faith statement: 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.
5. An accuracy statement: a statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
6. Your physical or electronic signature — typing your full legal name at the end of an emailed notice qualifies as an electronic signature.

Notices that are materially incomplete may not be effective under the DMCA; if something is missing we will tell you what, but the response clock starts when we receive a substantially complete notice.

Designated copyright agent

Send takedown notices and counter-notices to our designated agent:

What happens when we receive a valid notice

We will remove the identified material or disable access to it promptly — it disappears from the uploader's shelf and from any reading room that was using it. We then notify the uploader, give them a copy of the notice, and tell them how to file a counter-notice if they believe the removal was a mistake.

Filing a counter-notice

If material you uploaded was removed and you believe it was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification, you may send our designated agent a written counter-notice per 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3) that includes:

1. Your physical or electronic signature.
2. Identification of the material that was removed or to which access was disabled, and where it appeared before removal — on Apace, the book's title and your account is enough.
3. A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief 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 in which your address is located (or, if your address is outside the United States, any judicial district in which Apace may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the person who filed the original notice or their agent.

On receiving a valid counter-notice, we will forward it promptly to the person who filed the original notice. Unless that person notifies us within 10 business days that they have filed a court action seeking to restrain the allegedly infringing activity, we will restore the removed material no sooner than 10 and no later than 14 business days after receiving the counter-notice.

Repeat infringers

We will terminate, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of users who are repeat infringers. We may also remove any upload, or restrict a user's ability to upload, at our discretion when we have reason to believe it infringes someone else's rights.

Misrepresentation

Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), anyone who knowingly 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 — incurred by the alleged infringer, by the copyright owner or its licensee, or by Apace. Please make sure a notice or counter-notice is accurate before you send it.