Copyright Policy

Last updated: July 7, 2026

Draft notice: This is a plain-language draft prepared for review, not legal advice. Review before launch.

1. Respect for makers

The Kerf is built on the idea that makers share what they create. We host user-uploaded plans and rely on our community to upload only content they have the right to share. Uploading someone else's plans, designs, or images without their permission is not acceptable and violates both our Terms of Service and copyright law.

If you believe your copyrighted work has been uploaded to The Kerf without your permission, please follow the process below.

2. Reporting infringement

Send an email to copyright@the-kerf.com with the subject line "Copyright claim" and include all of the following:

A direct link to the plan or content on The Kerf that you believe infringes your work.
A description of your original work and, if possible, evidence of your authorship (publication date, link to original source, photos of the original, etc.).
Your name and contact information (email is fine).
A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use of the material is not authorized by you, your agent, or the law.

We take copyright seriously. Submitting a false claim is also a serious matter, so please only report content you genuinely believe infringes your rights.

3. What happens after you report

We review every claim promptly. If we determine the content does infringe your rights:

We will remove or disable access to the infringing content.
We will notify the user who uploaded it that their content has been removed and why.
We will send you a confirmation once the content is down.

4. Counter-notices

If your content was removed and you believe it was a mistake — for example, you do have the rights to share it, or the content isn't protected by copyright — you may send a counter-notice to copyright@the-kerf.com explaining your claim and providing evidence of your rights.

We'll review the counter-notice and may restore the content if we agree it was removed in error. Both parties may need to resolve the dispute between themselves.

5. Repeat infringers

Accounts that repeatedly upload infringing content will be terminated. We have a zero-tolerance policy for serial copyright infringement.