1. Our approach to copyright
F1 Cars publishes original editorial text about Formula 1 cars for educational and informational purposes. Articles may discuss eras, engineering themes, design evolution, and technical innovations. Images and other media may appear as editorial or illustrative visuals supporting that historical storytelling.
We are not affiliated with Formula 1, the FIA, teams, or manufacturers. Mentions of championships, regulations, constructors, or organisation names are informational only and do not imply endorsement or sponsorship.
We take copyright concerns seriously. When we receive a complete and good-faith notice identifying allegedly infringing material on our site, we review it promptly and may remove, replace, disable access to, or otherwise address the material as appropriate under applicable law and our hosting arrangements.
This policy is designed to align with notice-and-takedown practices commonly associated with the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and with comparable principles under New Zealand copyright law, while recognising that F1 Cars is operated as an independent editorial website. Providing a clear notice process helps rights holders, readers, and our team resolve issues efficiently.
2. Copyright notice requirements
To help us investigate quickly, your written notice should include substantially all of the following elements. Incomplete notices may delay action or prevent us from locating the material.
- Identification of the copyrighted work. Describe the work you claim is infringed. If multiple works are covered by one notice, provide a representative list that is reasonably specific.
- Identification of the allegedly infringing material. Provide the exact URL(s) on F1 Cars where the material appears, plus a description sufficient for us to find it (for example, article title, image caption, or paragraph reference).
- Your contact information. Include your full name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address. Preferred email for replies: state clearly if different from the address you send from.
- A good-faith statement. Include a 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.
- Accuracy statement. Include a statement that the information in the notice is accurate.
- Authority statement. Include a statement, under penalty of perjury where applicable (including for DMCA-style notices), that you are the copyright owner or are authorised to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
- Signature. Provide a physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or authorised agent (typing your full legal name can constitute an electronic signature for this purpose).
- Optional helpful detail. Registration numbers, links to official catalogues, comparison screenshots, or licence terms can speed review but are not a substitute for the core elements above.
Notices that are vague (“your site steals photos” without URLs), that demand unrelated commercial outcomes, or that omit contact details are difficult to process. Please be precise.
3. Where to send notices
Send copyright notices to:
Mark the message clearly as a copyright notice. Allow reasonable time for review. Keep a copy of your notice for your records.
General questions that are not infringement claims can use the same channels or our Contact page. Please do not use copyright channels for ordinary article feedback unless the feedback includes a formal notice.
4. How we respond
After receiving a complete notice, we typically:
- Acknowledge receipt when practicable
- Review the identified URLs and the claimed rights
- Remove, replace, crop, credit, licence, or disable access to material where we determine that action is appropriate
- Document the request and our response for our records
- Notify the original poster or contributor if the material was submitted by a third party and contact details are available
We may request clarification if the notice is incomplete. We may decline to act on notices that appear abusive, knowingly false, or unrelated to material hosted on our site. We may also consult legal advisers for complex claims.
Response times vary with complexity and volume. Straightforward image or text claims with clear URLs are usually handled more quickly than disputed historical fair-dealing questions or multi-page inventories.
Removing material does not necessarily constitute an admission that infringement occurred; it may be a precautionary step while facts are assessed.
5. Counter-notice process
If you believe material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification, you may send us a counter-notice containing:
- Identification of the material that was removed or to which access was disabled, and the location where it appeared before removal
- Your name, address, telephone number, and email address
- A statement, under penalty of perjury where applicable, that you have a good-faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material
- A statement consenting to the jurisdiction of appropriate courts (for DMCA-style processes, often U.S. federal court for your address, or another forum specified by applicable procedure) and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided the original notice
- Your physical or electronic signature
Upon receiving a valid counter-notice, we may forward it to the original complainant and may restore the material within a time frame consistent with applicable law and our policies, unless the complainant notifies us that they have filed a court action seeking to restrain the alleged infringement.
Because we operate from New Zealand, some DMCA-specific jurisdictional statements may need adaptation; we will work in good faith with both parties to apply a fair process. Providing complete contact details remains essential.
6. Repeat infringers
It is our policy, in appropriate circumstances, to limit or terminate relationships with users or contributors who are determined to be repeat infringers of copyright. Because F1 Cars is primarily an editorial site rather than a large user-generated content platform, “users” in this sense more often means guest contributors, uploaders, or partners who supply media.
Factors we may consider include the number of valid complaints, whether infringement appears wilful, responsiveness to prior notices, and any pattern of submitting material without rights.
We reserve the right to remove content and end contributor access even after a single serious infringement where circumstances warrant.
7. Misrepresentation warning
Submitting a copyright notice that knowingly materially misrepresents that material is infringing can lead to liability for damages, including costs and legal fees incurred by the alleged infringer, by us as publisher, or by our service providers, under the DMCA and potentially under other laws against false claims.
Similarly, knowingly materially misrepresenting that material was removed by mistake in a counter-notice can create liability. Please ensure your statements are accurate and that you have the authority you claim.
If you are unsure whether a use is infringing, consider obtaining legal advice before sending a notice. Historical commentary, short quotations, thumbnails used for identification, and properly licensed stock imagery raise different issues than wholesale copying of protected photographs.
8. Trademarks and brand references
Tournament names, tour names, and organisation names may appear in articles for factual identification and historical discussion. F1 Cars does not claim ownership of third-party trademarks. Appearance of a mark does not mean we are affiliated with the mark owner.
If you are a trademark owner and believe a specific presentation on our site is confusingly similar to your branding in a commercial sense (for example, a logo treatment that implies official sponsorship), contact us with:
- The mark you own and evidence of rights
- The URL and description of the allegedly problematic use
- An explanation of the confusion or harm claimed
- Your contact details and requested remedy (such as clarification wording or logo removal)
We will review trademark concerns in good faith. Nominative, non-stylised textual references used to discuss history are often lawful and necessary for an educational Formula 1 car site, but we remain open to reasonable clarifications.
9. Related policies and contact
Copyright and trademark issues intersect with other site rules:
- Terms of Use — licence to users, acceptable use, and intellectual property ownership of original site content
- Privacy Policy — how we handle personal information contained in notices and correspondence
- Cookie Policy — cookies and advertising technologies (including Google Ads / AdSense) that may appear on pages while claims are reviewed
- About — who we are as an independent informational project
- Contact — general enquiries
Copyright correspondence:
Last updated: 7 September 2026. We may revise this DMCA / Copyright Policy as our processes or legal requirements change. The current version on this page applies to notices we receive after publication of that version.
