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Guava

Guava policy

Copyright and Content Complaints

Guava hosts work uploaded by other people. If something here uses your work without permission, misuses your name or image, or exposes your private life, this page tells you exactly how to ask us to remove it and what we will do.

Last updated 6 September 20266 min read9 sections

01The principle

Everyone who publishes on Guava promises that they own or have licensed everything in what they publish. Copyright and related rights in Tanzania are protected by the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act, and we take a complaint under it seriously.We are a host, not the author of user content. Once we are properly notified that something is unlawful or infringing, we act on it.

02What counts as infringement here

  • Documentary or news footage, clips, b-roll or interviews used without a licence.
  • Music, soundtrack, sound effects or a recorded performance used without a licence.
  • Photographs, illustrations, artwork, cover images or thumbnails used without permission.
  • Articles, research, scripts, subtitles, translations, novels, chapters or comics republished without permission.
  • Course material, lesson text, slides or quiz banks copied from another course or publisher.
  • Logos, brand names, wordmarks or trade dress used so as to suggest a connection that does not exist.

03How to file a copyright notice

Send your notice to this address with “Copyright notice” in the subject line. To act on it we need all of the following.
  1. 1Your full legal name, postal address, email address and telephone number.
  2. 2Identification of the work you own, with proof of ownership or of your authority to act, such as a registration, a publication record, an original file or a licence.
  3. 3The exact location on Guava of the material you say infringes it: the full link to each post, article, course, listing, channel entry or comment. A link to a profile is not enough.
  4. 4A statement of why the use is not authorised by you, by law or by a licence.
  5. 5A statement that you believe in good faith that the use is not authorised by the rights owner, its agent or the law.
  6. 6A statement that the information in the notice is accurate, and that you are the rights owner or authorised to act for them, made under penalty of the consequences of a false statement.
  7. 7Your physical or electronic signature.
Incomplete notices are slower, because we have to write back and ask. Send everything the first time.

04What we do with a notice

  1. 1We check that the notice is complete and that the material is actually on Guava.
  2. 2Where the complaint appears well founded, we remove or disable access to the material. We act as quickly as is reasonably practicable, and within any period Tanzanian law requires.
  3. 3We tell the person who uploaded it what was removed and why, and we pass on the substance of your complaint. We do not publish your contact details unless the law requires it.
  4. 4The removed material stays recoverable by us for 12 days so that a counter-notice or an appeal has something to work with, after which it is erased.
  5. 5We record the removal against the uploader's account.
We may decline to act on a notice that is incomplete, that appears abusive, or where the use looks lawful to us. We are not obliged to explain our reasoning, and nothing here obliges us to act as a judge of a genuine ownership dispute between two parties.

05If your content was removed and you think we were wrong

Send a counter-notice to this address with “Counter-notice” in the subject line, within 30 days, containing:
  1. 1Your full legal name, address, email address and telephone number.
  2. 2Identification of the material that was removed and where it was.
  3. 3The reason you believe the removal was wrong: your own licence, your authorship, permission you hold, or that the use is lawful.
  4. 4Evidence, if you have it.
  5. 5A statement that the information is accurate, and your signature.
We may pass your counter-notice, including your identity, to the complainant so the two of you can resolve it. We may restore the material, keep it down, or leave it down while the two of you settle it. We are not a court and cannot decide a genuine ownership dispute, so where the facts are contested we will normally leave the material down until you and the complainant agree or a court decides.

06Repeat infringers

We terminate accounts that infringe repeatedly.
  • First upheld notice. the material is removed and the account is warned.
  • Second. the material is removed and publishing is restricted for a period. Creator status may be withdrawn.
  • Third. the account is closed permanently.
We may move straight to closure where the infringement is commercial, systematic or clearly deliberate, such as an account built on republishing other people's documentaries.

07Misusing this process

A copyright notice is a legal statement. Filing one over work you do not own, to silence criticism, to attack a competitor, or knowing it to be false, is a violation of our Terms and may expose you to liability under Tanzanian law for the loss it causes.We will refuse notices from a complainant who has abused the process, and we may tell the affected account holder that we did.

08Other kinds of complaint

  • Trademark and impersonation. if an account or a page uses your brand name, logo or identity so as to confuse people, write to us with proof of your rights and links to the account.
  • Your image or likeness. if you appear in a photograph or footage published without your consent, tell us where you appear and we will review it.
  • Private information. if a post exposes your identification number, address, phone number, financial details, medical information or private images, report it. These are removed quickly.
  • Defamation. if a statement about you is false and damaging, tell us the exact statement, why it is false, and what evidence you have. We will review it. We are not a court and cannot decide the truth of a contested claim, so we may keep material up and leave the dispute to be resolved between the parties or in court.
  • Content about a deceased person. immediate family may ask us to remove distressing material about a relative who has died, with proof of the relationship.
  • Content involving a child. a parent or guardian may ask us to remove any content featuring their child. We act on these quickly and do not require a legal argument.

09Legal requests

Sometimes a court, a regulator or another competent authority sends us a formal request about content or an account. We are not free to ignore one, and this section says how we handle it.
  • We check it first. we respond to requests that are valid and properly made, and we ask for the legal basis where it is not clear. A request without one is not acted on.
  • We give only what is asked for. we do not volunteer information about our users, and we disclose no more than the request actually requires.
  • We tell you where we can. if a request concerns your account, we will tell you, unless the law forbids it or a life is at risk.
  • Where to send one. official requests go to this address on letterhead, stating the legal basis, the specific content or account, and the name and contact details of the requesting officer.

Still not clear?

Write to us and a person will read it. Put the subject in the first line so it reaches the right place.

Email us