Copyright / DMCA Policy

Users are responsible for content they submit, upload, transmit, or otherwise provide to Student Money Mentors.

Users must have a lawful basis, permission, license, or other legal right to use and submit content they provide.

This may include:

• Text
• Photographs
• Images
• Graphics
• Illustrations
• Videos
• Audio
• Documents
• Worksheets
• Financial-education materials
• Presentations
• Articles
• Books or excerpts
• Screenshots
• Spreadsheets
• Financial records
• Other copyrighted works
• AI-assisted or AI-generated material

Users must not knowingly upload, submit, or distribute copyrighted material they do not have the right or lawful basis to use.

Copyright generally belongs to the person or entity that owns the applicable rights in an original work.

Submitting copyrighted material to Student Money Mentors does not automatically transfer ownership of that material to Student Money Mentors.

Except for rights granted to Student Money Mentors under the Terms of Service, users retain whatever ownership rights they have in content they submit.

Users should not assume that material available online, including financial articles, educational resources, charts, calculators, photographs, or social-media content, is free to copy or redistribute.

When a user submits content to Student Money Mentors, the user grants Student Money Mentors the licenses reasonably necessary to host, store, process, reproduce, format, transmit, secure, moderate, analyze, and otherwise provide the feature or service requested by the user.

The precise scope of this license is governed by the Student Money Mentors Terms of Service.

This license does not mean that Student Money Mentors becomes the owner of the user’s copyrighted work.

Copyright infringement generally occurs when copyrighted material is used in a manner that violates the copyright owner’s exclusive rights and no applicable authorization, exception, or other legal basis applies.

Potentially infringing conduct may include unauthorized:

• Reproduction
• Distribution
• Public display
• Public performance
• Adaptation
• Uploading
• Commercial exploitation
• Redistribution of protected material

Not every use of copyrighted material constitutes infringement.

Certain uses may be permitted by applicable law, including potentially fair use in the United States.

Student Money Mentors does not automatically treat every disputed use as copyright infringement.

For users and content located in the United States, Student Money Mentors may seek protections available to qualifying online service providers under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), including 17 U.S.C. § 512, where applicable.

Student Money Mentors does not waive any rights, defenses, limitations, or protections available under applicable law.

Where applicable, Student Money Mentors may respond to properly submitted copyright notices by removing or disabling access to allegedly infringing material.

Copyright infringement notices should be sent to Student Money Mentors’ designated copyright agent once Student Money Mentors has established and registered its designated-agent process.

Do not publish this Policy as an operational DMCA notice process until the designated-agent information has been completed and verified.

If Student Money Mentors designates a different copyright agent, the publicly available information should be kept current.

If you believe copyrighted material has been made available through Student Money Mentors without authorization and the use is not otherwise permitted by law, you may submit a written copyright infringement notification through Student Money Mentors’ designated copyright process once operational.

A valid DMCA notification generally must contain the information required by applicable law.

To help Student Money Mentors evaluate a complaint, provide:

If a copyright complaint does not contain sufficient information to evaluate the claim, Student Money Mentors may request additional information.

An incomplete complaint may not qualify as a valid DMCA notification.

Student Money Mentors may also be unable to act if the allegedly infringing material cannot be located.

After receiving a sufficiently complete copyright complaint, Student Money Mentors may:

• Review the complaint
• Identify the relevant material
• Remove or disable access to content
• Restrict access to a feature
• Notify the affected user
• Request additional information
• Preserve relevant information
• Take other action permitted by applicable law

Student Money Mentors does not guarantee that every reported item will be removed.

Where appropriate, Student Money Mentors may notify the user who submitted or uploaded the allegedly infringing material.

The notification may include information about the complaint necessary for the user to understand and respond to the claim.

Users should understand that submitting a copyright complaint does not necessarily guarantee that their identity or submitted information will remain confidential.

If Student Money Mentors removes or disables access to material because of a valid DMCA notice, the affected user may have the right to submit a DMCA counter-notification.

A counter-notification should generally contain the information required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(g), including:

• Identification of the material removed or disabled
• The location where the material appeared before removal
• A statement under penalty of perjury that the user has a good-faith belief that the material was removed or disabled because of mistake or misidentification
• The user’s name
• Address
• Telephone number
• A statement consenting to the jurisdiction of the appropriate federal district court
• A statement accepting service of process from the copyright complainant
• Physical or electronic signature

Counter-notifications should be sent to Student Money Mentors’ designated copyright agent once that process is operational.

If Student Money Mentors receives a valid counter-notification, Student Money Mentors may forward it to the original copyright complainant as permitted or required by applicable law.

If the copyright complainant does not provide notice of an appropriate court action within the applicable statutory period, Student Money Mentors may restore or cease disabling access to the material as required or permitted by law.

Restoration is subject to applicable law and does not necessarily occur automatically.

Users must not knowingly submit materially false or misleading copyright complaints or counter-notifications.

Abuse of the copyright-reporting process may result in enforcement action.

Depending on the circumstances, Student Money Mentors may:

• Remove content
• Restrict functionality
• Suspend an account
• Terminate an account
• Preserve relevant records
• Respond to lawful requests

A copyright complaint that ultimately proves unsuccessful is not necessarily abusive. Good-faith mistakes are different from intentional deception.

Student Money Mentors recognizes that copyright law contains exceptions and limitations.

In the United States, these may include fair use under 17 U.S.C. § 107.

Potentially lawful uses may include certain:

• Commentary
• Criticism
• Teaching
• Scholarship
• Research
• News reporting
• Parody
• Educational uses

Whether a particular use qualifies for an exception depends on the circumstances.

Student Money Mentors does not guarantee that a particular use qualifies as fair use or another legal exception.

Users who are uncertain about their rights should consider obtaining independent legal advice.

Student Money Mentors may provide features through which users submit screenshots, photographs, images, documents, spreadsheets, or other materials.

Such materials may contain copyrighted content belonging to another person, publisher, financial institution, educational organization, website, or other rights holder.

The ability to access, download, or capture a document or image does not automatically give a user ownership of the copyrighted material contained within it.

Before uploading material, users should consider:

• Whether they own the material
• Whether they have permission to use it
• Whether a license applies
• Whether the use is otherwise permitted by law
• Whether unnecessary personal information should be removed
• Whether unnecessary financial information should be removed

Copyright concerns are separate from privacy and financial-safety concerns addressed by Student Money Mentors’ other policies.

Student Money Mentors may provide financial-education materials, explanations, examples, worksheets, calculations, guides, templates, or other educational resources.

Users must not assume that educational availability means that material may be freely reproduced or redistributed.

Unless otherwise indicated, users should not copy and republish substantial portions of Student Money Mentors-owned educational materials outside the permissions provided by Student Money Mentors or applicable law.

Users should also respect the rights of third-party educators, authors, publishers, financial institutions, universities, organizations, and other rights holders.

Users generally retain whatever copyright interests they have in original content they create and submit to Student Money Mentors, subject to the licenses and other terms contained in the Student Money Mentors Terms of Service.

If user-created material incorporates content created by someone else, the user is responsible for determining whether they have the necessary rights to use that material.

Adding personal commentary, calculations, analysis, or financial opinions to another person’s copyrighted work does not automatically make the entire submission lawful.

Student Money Mentors may reference or process information originating from third-party websites, financial institutions, educational providers, publishers, or other services.

Student Money Mentors does not necessarily control the copyright policies or enforcement decisions of those third parties.

Users remain responsible for complying with applicable rights when importing, uploading, copying, or redistributing third-party financial or educational content.

Where permitted by Student Money Mentors’ Terms and other policies, users may provide links to external websites or resources.

Linking to third-party material does not automatically make the underlying material lawful.

Student Money Mentors may restrict or remove links that:

• Facilitate copyright infringement
• Distribute pirated material
• Circumvent legitimate access controls
• Violate applicable law
• Otherwise violate Student Money Mentors’ Terms or policies

Where required by applicable law, Student Money Mentors may maintain and reasonably implement a policy for terminating accounts of users who are repeat copyright infringers.

Student Money Mentors may also take action against users who repeatedly submit or distribute material after receiving valid copyright notices.

Possible enforcement may include:

• Content removal
• Feature restrictions
• Temporary suspension
• Permanent account termination

Users must not intentionally attempt to evade copyright enforcement by:

• Re-uploading removed material
• Creating replacement accounts
• Slightly modifying infringing material solely to evade enforcement
• Splitting copyrighted material into multiple uploads
• Reposting material after receiving a valid copyright notice

Student Money Mentors may take additional action when users intentionally attempt to circumvent legitimate copyright enforcement.

Student Money Mentors may use automated systems, third-party services, or other technical measures to identify potentially problematic material.

Automated systems may make mistakes.

A system flag does not by itself establish that infringement has occurred.

Where appropriate, Student Money Mentors may provide human review, additional investigation, or an appeal mechanism depending on the feature and circumstances.

Student Money Mentors may provide AI-powered features that process user-submitted text, images, documents, financial information, or other material.

Users must not intentionally use Student Money Mentors’ AI features to generate, transform, or distribute material in a manner that infringes another person’s copyright.

Examples may include intentionally using AI to create:

• Unauthorized reproductions of copyrighted works
• Substantial copies of protected material
• Unauthorized copies of copyrighted images
• Infringing adaptations
• Material specifically designed to circumvent copyright protections

AI assistance does not automatically eliminate copyright obligations.

Users remain responsible for considering applicable rights before publishing or distributing AI-generated or AI-assisted material.

Submitting copyrighted material to a Student Money Mentors AI feature does not automatically transfer ownership of that material to Student Money Mentors.

Copyright ownership remains subject to the rights of the original rights holder and the applicable terms governing the user’s relationship with Student Money Mentors.

Processing material through an AI feature also does not automatically grant the user permission to redistribute that material.

Student Money Mentors may generate or assist with financial-education content using AI.

The fact that AI generated or assisted with content does not guarantee that the resulting material:

• Is original
• Is copyrightable
• Is free from third-party rights
• Does not resemble existing works
• May be commercially exploited without restriction

Users should independently evaluate material before publishing, distributing, or commercially using it.

If Student Money Mentors removes content following a copyright complaint, that action does not necessarily mean that a court has determined that the content infringes copyright.

Likewise, if Student Money Mentors does not remove content, that does not necessarily mean that the content is legally non-infringing.

Platform moderation decisions and legal determinations are separate matters.

This Policy primarily addresses copyright.

Other intellectual property disputes may involve:

• Trademarks
• Trade dress
• Patents
• Right of publicity
• Trade secrets
• Other proprietary rights

A DMCA notice should generally not be used for a dispute that concerns only a non-copyright right.

Student Money Mentors may provide other reporting procedures where appropriate.

Copyright complaints may contain personal, financial, or business information.

Student Money Mentors will handle complaint information according to its Privacy Policy and applicable law.

Users should provide only information reasonably necessary to establish and process a copyright claim.

Do not include:

• Passwords
• Authentication codes
• Bank-account credentials
• Payment-card information
• Unnecessary financial records
• Unrelated medical information
• Unnecessary personal information
• Other unrelated sensitive information

Student Money Mentors may respond to valid legal processes involving copyright disputes.

These may include:

• Subpoenas
• Court orders
• Search warrants
• Other legally valid requests

Student Money Mentors may preserve or disclose information when required or permitted by applicable law.

When reasonably necessary for legal compliance, copyright enforcement, security, fraud prevention, or other legitimate purposes, Student Money Mentors may preserve relevant information for an appropriate period.

Preservation does not necessarily mean that information will remain publicly accessible.

Preserved information may include:

• Relevant content
• Account information
• Copyright complaints
• Moderation records
• Security logs
• Relevant technical information

Data handling and retention are further addressed by the Student Money Mentors Privacy Policy and Data Retention and Deletion Policy, where applicable.

Student Money Mentors will take reasonable measures to limit unnecessary disclosure of information contained in copyright complaints.

However, Student Money Mentors cannot guarantee absolute confidentiality.

Information may be accessed or disclosed when reasonably necessary to:

• Investigate a copyright complaint
• Respond to a counter-notification
• Protect users
• Enforce platform rules
• Maintain security
• Comply with law
• Respond to valid legal process

Submitting a copyright complaint may require sharing certain information with the affected user or other parties as required or permitted by law.

Student Money Mentors’ copyright procedures apply to copyrighted material submitted through applicable current features.

Because Student Money Mentors’ features may evolve, this Policy may also apply to new upload, AI, financial-education, informational, document-processing, or content-processing features introduced after this Policy is published.

Feature-specific terms or policies may impose additional requirements.

Student Money Mentors cannot guarantee that copyrighted material submitted to the platform will never be copied, misused, redistributed, or infringed by another person.

Users should carefully consider what material they upload and whether they are comfortable submitting it to the relevant Student Money Mentors feature.

Student Money Mentors may provide reasonable technical and administrative measures intended to protect submitted content, but no online service can guarantee absolute protection.

Student Money Mentors may update this Copyright / DMCA Policy as:

• Applicable law changes
• Student Money Mentors features change
• Copyright procedures develop
• AI capabilities change
• Financial-education features evolve
• Legal requirements change
• Platform practices evolve

Material changes may be communicated through appropriate means.

The current version will be made available through Student Money Mentors.

This Copyright / DMCA Policy should be read together with applicable Student Money Mentors policies, including:

• Student Money Mentors Terms of Service
• Student Money Mentors Privacy Policy
• Student Money Mentors Community Guidelines
• Student Money Mentors Safety & Reporting Policy
• Student Money Mentors AI Use & AI Privacy Notice
• Student Money Mentors Data Retention and Deletion Policy

These policies collectively establish the rules governing use of Student Money Mentors.

Once Student Money Mentors establishes its formal copyright process, copyright complaints and counter-notifications should be directed to Student Money Mentors’ designated copyright agent:

Do not publish this section as an operational DMCA designated-agent process until the information has been completed and verified.

Student Money Mentors is intended to provide students and users with useful financial-education tools, information, guidance, and AI-assisted features.

Users should be able to submit material they have the right or lawful basis to use without treating another person’s creative, educational, financial, or informational work as automatically free to copy.

The basic rule is:

Only upload, submit, reproduce, or share content that you have the right or lawful basis to use.

If you believe your copyrighted work has been used improperly through Student Money Mentors, use the applicable copyright-reporting process rather than retaliating against the person or attempting to circumvent the platform’s procedures.

This Policy contains placeholders for Student Money Mentors’ designated copyright agent and contact information. Those fields must be completed and verified before the Policy is published as an operational DMCA notice-and-counter-notice process.