Intellectual Property & DMCA Policy

Overview

SwapSlabs respects intellectual-property rights and expects members to do the same. This policy explains how rights holders (and their agents) can report counterfeit cards, copyright infringement, and trademark misuse, and how a member whose content was removed can respond. It is part of the Terms of Service.

Player names, team logos, set names, and card images are used on SwapSlabs to identify cards that members are reselling. Listings must use members' own photos of the actual card.

Certification codes are redacted — do not attempt to copy them

When a listing photo shows a graded card's slab, SwapSlabs automatically blurs the certification barcode, QR code, and the printed certification number before the photo is ever shown on the site. The certification number itself is stored encrypted and is not displayed publicly. This is deliberate: a visible, legible cert code could be photographed off the site and used to misrepresent a different card as authentically graded.

You may not attempt to reconstruct, extract, decode, unblur, or otherwise recover a redacted certification code from any photo, page, or export on SwapSlabs, and you may not use a code obtained from SwapSlabs (by any means) to create, describe, or represent a counterfeit, mismatched, or otherwise fraudulent certification claim — on SwapSlabs or anywhere else. This applies regardless of whether the underlying card is genuine.

Violating this section is treated the same as listing a counterfeit card under "Repeat-infringer policy" below: SwapSlabs will suspend the account, refer the matter to law enforcement and to the relevant grading company (PSA, BGS, SGC, CGC, or TAG), and pursue every available remedy, including criminal referral and civil liability, in addition to the Guarantee's counterfeit consequences.

Third-party trademarks

Card names, set names, team names, league names, player names and likenesses, publisher logos, and grading-company marks that appear on SwapSlabs are trademarks or copyrighted works of their respective owners — for example (without limitation) Wizards of the Coast (Magic: The Gathering), The Pokémon Company / Nintendo / Creatures / Game Freak (Pokémon), Konami (Yu-Gi-Oh!), Topps, Panini, Upper Deck, Bowman, and Fleer (card manufacturers), MLB, the NBA, the NFL, and the NHL (sports leagues), and PSA, BGS (Beckett), SGC, CGC, and TAG (grading companies).

None of these rights holders sponsor, endorse, or are affiliated with SwapSlabs. Their marks appear solely to identify genuine cards members are listing for swap, sale, or purchase — the same referential, nominative use described under "Trademark, publicity, and misuse of this process" below — and SwapSlabs claims no ownership over them.

Reporting a counterfeit or replica card

If you are a rights holder or authorized agent and believe a listing offers a counterfeit, replica, or unauthorized card, send a report to the designated agent below. Include the listing URL(s), the basis for your belief that the item is counterfeit, identification of the authentic product and your authority, and your contact information. SwapSlabs may remove the listing, notify the seller, and act against repeat offenders.

Filing a DMCA copyright notice

To report content you believe infringes your copyright, send the designated agent a written notice that includes all of the following:

• •Your physical or electronic signature, as the owner or a person authorized to act for the owner
• •Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed (or a representative list)
• •Identification of the material claimed to be infringing and enough information for SwapSlabs to locate it — for example the listing or page URL
• •Your name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address
• •A statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized by the owner, its agent, or the law
• •A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are the owner or authorized to act for the owner

Designated agent

Send copyright and IP notices to ip@swapslabs.example.

[PLACEHOLDER — before launch, register a DMCA designated agent with the US Copyright Office and publish the agent's name, organization, physical mailing address, telephone number, and email here. This is a mechanical registration step the operator (not counsel, and not this tool) must complete directly: create an account at dmca.copyright.gov, submit the service provider's correct legal business name, the agent's name/address/phone/email, and the site's domain(s), pay the filing fee, and the registration goes live in the public DMCA Designated Agent Directory. It must be re-filed every 3 years. This cannot be done here because it requires the entity's actual legal name — still a placeholder itself in this document's Section 1 context — and a real payment method on a government portal.]

Counter-notification

If your content was removed and you believe that was a mistake or misidentification, you may send the designated agent a counter-notification that includes: your physical or electronic signature; identification of the removed material and its former location; a statement, under penalty of perjury, that you have a good-faith belief the material was removed by mistake or misidentification; your name, address, and phone number; and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal court for your district (or, if outside the US, the district where SwapSlabs may be found) and will accept service from the person who filed the original notice.

If SwapSlabs receives a valid counter-notification, it may restore the material in 10 to 14 business days unless the original complainant notifies SwapSlabs that it has filed a court action seeking to restrain the conduct.

Repeat-infringer policy

SwapSlabs terminates, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, the accounts of members who are the subject of repeated valid infringement or counterfeit notices. Selling counterfeits also triggers the Guarantee's counterfeit consequences: a charge for the full item value plus a premium, suspension, and a law-enforcement referral.

Trademark, publicity, and misuse of this process

Report trademark or right-of-publicity concerns to the same agent with the equivalent details. Note that referential use of a name or mark to describe a genuine card being resold is generally permitted. Knowingly filing a materially false notice or counter-notification can create liability for damages, including costs and attorneys' fees, under the DMCA.