DMCA Policy

1. Designated Agent

Our designated agent for receipt of DMCA notifications is reachable by email at info@countytaxassessor.org. Please use the subject line DMCA notice for takedown requests and DMCA counter-notice for counter-notifications. We process all notices submitted in good faith that include the six statutory elements set out below.

2. Filing a DMCA Notice

If you believe content on countytaxassessor.org/ infringes a copyright you own or are authorised to enforce, send a written notice to the designated agent. The notice should be sent in plain text or PDF and include all six statutory elements.

3. Six Required Elements (17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3))

1. Physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner, or a person authorised to act on the owner’s behalf.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed — a specific work, or, if multiple works at the site are covered, a representative list.
3. Identification of the allegedly infringing material — sufficient to permit us to locate it (full URLs to the specific guide or guides on countytaxassessor.org/, not the homepage).
4. Reasonably sufficient contact information — your name, address, telephone number, and email.
5. A good-faith statement that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorised by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
6. An accuracy statement under penalty of perjury — that the information in the notification is accurate, and (under penalty of perjury) that you are authorised to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

4. Counter-Notice (17 U.S.C. § 512(g))

If your content was removed in response to a DMCA notice and you believe the removal was based on mistake or misidentification, you may file a counter-notice. A counter-notice must include:

• Your physical or electronic signature
• Identification of the material that was removed and the location at which it appeared before removal
• A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief that the material 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 outside the U.S., for any judicial district in which countytaxassessor.org/ may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the person who submitted the original notice

If we receive a valid counter-notice, we will forward it to the original complainant. If the original complainant does not file a court action seeking a restraining order against the user within 10–14 business days of receipt of the counter-notice, we may restore the removed material.

5. Repeat-Infringer Policy (17 U.S.C. § 512(i))

countytaxassessor.org/ maintains a policy, in compliance with Section 512(i), of terminating in appropriate circumstances the access of users (including contributors and commenters) who are repeat infringers of copyright.

6. Misrepresentation Liability (17 U.S.C. § 512(f))

7. Fair Use and Educational Property-Records Content (17 U.S.C. § 107)

Section 107 of the Copyright Act establishes the fair-use defence. The four statutory factors are: (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether it is for nonprofit educational purposes or transformative; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

8. Federal and State Government Works

Federal government works are generally not subject to copyright (17 U.S.C. § 105) — including most IRS, GSA, HUD, and BIA publications relevant to property matters. State government works are generally available for non-commercial reuse with attribution under each state’s open-records framework; state property-tax statutes themselves are uncopyrighted as state law. We comply with each state’s stated reuse policy for its publications and link to the original published page rather than reproducing it.

9. Trademark — Nominative Fair Use

We use the names of U.S. county offices and state oversight bodies — for example, “Cook County Assessor,” “Los Angeles County Assessor,” “Maricopa County Assessor,” “Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser,” “Orange County Property Appraiser” (Florida), “Harris Central Appraisal District (HCAD),” “Dallas Central Appraisal District (DCAD),” “Tarrant Appraisal District (TAD),” “Bexar Appraisal District (BCAD),” “Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD),” “Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts,” “Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR),” “California State Board of Equalization,” “Florida Department of Revenue,” and many others — to identify the office our guide covers.

This is nominative fair use. Under the Ninth Circuit framework in New Kids on the Block v. News America Publishing, Inc., 971 F.2d 302 (9th Cir. 1992) and subsequent case law, nominative use is permitted where (a) the product or service in question is not readily identifiable without use of the trademark, (b) only so much of the mark is used as is reasonably necessary, and (c) the user does nothing that would suggest sponsorship or endorsement by the mark holder. We meet all three requirements.

If you are the mark holder for a referenced office or organisation and you believe our use exceeds nominative fair use, email us with subject line Trademark concern — we respond within 5 business days.

10. Defamation Framework

Defamation requires a false statement of fact published with the relevant degree of fault. Our content is editorial reporting on county Assessor and Tax Collector procedures — exemption procedures, appeal frameworks, portal walkthroughs, and procedural descriptions. We rarely have occasion to publish defamation-relevant content; when we do reference county officials, appeal-body members, or state Department of Revenue staff, we attribute statements to the official record and we correct factual errors when shown they are factual errors.

For matters of public concern, the U.S. Supreme Court framework in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964) requires public officials to prove actual malice (knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth). Elected county Assessors, elected county Treasurers, appointed chief deputies, appeal-body members, and senior state Department of Revenue officials acting in their official capacity are typically public officials or public figures for Sullivan purposes when commentary concerns institutional conduct. For private figures involved in matters of public concern, Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323 (1974) and its progeny require at least a showing of fault.

If you believe a statement on the site is factually incorrect, email us with subject line Defamation concern or Correction — provide the page URL, the specific statement, and the source you believe shows it is incorrect. We respond within 7 business days.

11. What We Cannot Help With

• We cannot remove property records from a county’s published portal — we describe how to find what the county publishes; the county is the authority
• We cannot remove accurate content drawn from public county Assessor / Tax Collector and state Department of Revenue pages
• We cannot remove information about you from any county database — that is the county’s record; you must contact the county directly, and state confidentiality protections (Tex. Gov’t Code §552.117 in Texas, comparable laws in other states) and address-confidentiality programs may apply
• We cannot represent you in litigation against any third party — consult a state-licensed attorney
• We cannot process exemption applications or appeals on your behalf
• We cannot remove your search history from search engines

12. Contact

For DMCA notices: info@countytaxassessor.org with subject line DMCA notice.
For counter-notices: subject line DMCA counter-notice.
For trademark concerns: subject line Trademark concern.
For defamation concerns: subject line Defamation concern or Correction.