Copyright: Notice And Notice

Version 1.0 · Effective July 28, 2026

Canada handles online copyright complaints differently from the United States. We operate under the notice-and-notice regime in sections 41.25 to 41.27 of the Copyright Act. If you have arrived here expecting DMCA takedown, please read the next section before sending anything.

Canada Has No Notice-And-Takedown

Under notice-and-notice, when we receive a compliant notice of claimed infringement we are required to forward it to the account holder and confirm to you that we have done so. We are not required to remove the content, and forwarding a notice is not a finding that anything infringes.

We may still remove content under our own Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy, and often will where the claim is clear. But that is our decision as the operator, not something the notice compels.

What A Compliant Notice Must Contain

Section 41.25(2) sets the requirements. A notice must be in writing and state:

1. your name and address, and any other contact information we need to reach you;
2. the copyrighted work or other subject matter you claim rights in, and your interest or right in it;
3. the claimed infringement;
4. the location data for the material, meaning the specific URL, not "somewhere on your site"; and
5. the date and time of the claimed infringement.

Send it to legal@ajaxpickering.ca.

Notices We Will Reject

Section 41.25(3) prohibits a notice from containing certain things. We will not forward a notice that includes:

• an offer to settle the claimed infringement;
• a request or demand for payment;
• a request for personal information; or
• a hyperlink to any of the above.

These provisions exist because the notice system was being used to deliver settlement demands to ordinary people at scale. A notice containing them is not a notice under the Act, and we will tell you so rather than pass it on.

What We Do With A Compliant Notice

1. We forward it to the account holder electronically, as soon as feasible.
2. We confirm to you that we have done so, or explain why we could not.
3. We retain records that allow the account holder to be identified, for six months from the date we receive the notice. If you commence proceedings and notify us before that period ends, we retain them for one year.

We do not disclose the account holder's identity to you on the strength of a notice. If you need it, obtain a Norwich order or other order of a court. See our Law Enforcement Guidelines.

If You Received A Notice From Us

Receiving a forwarded notice does not mean we have judged your content, removed anything, or given anyone your identity. It means someone made a claim and the law requires us to pass it to you.

You may want to consider whether you have permission, whether an exception such as fair dealing applies, or whether the claim is simply wrong. If you believe it is mistaken, tell us at legal@ajaxpickering.ca. We will record your response with the notice.

Be careful of anything in a notice demanding money. Those demands are prohibited by s. 41.25(3), and if one reaches you through us we have made a mistake and would like to know.

Repeat Infringers

Repeatedly posting material you do not have the right to post is a breach of our Acceptable Use Policy and can lead to content removal, feature restriction or termination. That is a contractual consequence of our agreement with you, separate from the notice-and-notice process.

Counter-Notice

The Canadian regime has no formal counter-notice procedure, because it has no takedown to counter. Where we have removed content under our own Terms and you think we got it wrong, write to legal@ajaxpickering.ca and a person will look at it again.

Damages For Non-Compliant Notices

Under s. 41.26(3), a claimant who sends a notice that does not comply with the Act may be liable for statutory damages between $5,000 and $10,000. We mention this not as a threat but because it is easy to fall foul of by using a US-drafted template.