In short
- To report Content that infringes copyright or related rights, send a complete Notice to copyright@sphere.art.
- Within 24 hours of a complete Notice we remove or block the Content, tell the uploader and answer you in writing.
- The uploader can send a Counter-notice. We forward it within 24 hours and restore the Content unless a court order securing the claim is presented within 14 days.
- We close the Accounts of repeat infringers.
1. Scope and legal basis
This policy explains how SPHERE.ART LLC handles claims that Content in the Service infringes copyright or related rights, such as the rights of performers and of producers of recordings. It follows the notice procedure of the Law of Georgia on Copyright and Related Rights, in particular Articles 58(3)(g), 59(9) and (10), and 60¹, as in force since 12 December 2025.
Notice and Counter-notice have the meanings given in the Terms of Service, section 2 "Definitions".
The policy covers all Content in the Service, including profiles, Projects, Films in the Catalog, trailers, uploaded files and forum posts. We host what Users provide and, apart from the checks that the Terms of Service, section 5 "Our role" lists, do not check it before it appears. We act when we receive a Notice, a Report or an order of a court or authority. Sellers also promise that they hold the rights in what they sell, as set out in the Creator and Organizer Terms, section 5 "Rights and clearances".
Complaints about trademarks, a person's image, voice or name, and other rights follow section 7.
2. How to send a Notice
Send your Notice by email to copyright@sphere.art or by post to SPHERE.ART LLC, 14 Megobroba Avenue, 8th floor, apartment 27, Rustavi, Georgia. You can also use the online form for Notices on our website, which delivers to copyright@sphere.art. The form asks for part of the details below, and we write to you for the rest. Email counts as writing for Notices, Counter-notices and our answers (for written notices in general, see the Terms of Service, section 16 "Notices").
A Notice must contain:
- the work or other protected subject matter that you say is infringed, and the facts that show the infringement;
- the web address (URL) of each item of Content in the Service that you want removed;
- your name or company name, your identification number (a personal or passport number for an individual, a registration number for a company), your actual address and your legal address, your phone number and your email address;
- if you act for the rights holder, a document that proves your authority, such as a power of attorney;
- a statement that the information in the Notice is accurate and that you are the rights holder or are authorised to act for them.
You may write in Georgian, English or Russian. Before you send a Notice, check whether the use may be allowed without your permission, for example under a licence or under an exception in the law such as quotation.
We send the uploader a copy of your Notice, with your name, identification number, addresses and contact details, so that they can answer it. How we handle Personal Data in Notices and Counter-notices is described in the Privacy Policy, section 7 "Service providers and other recipients".
3. What happens after a Notice
Complete Notice. Within 24 hours of receiving a complete Notice, we:
- remove the Content it names or block access to it;
- tell the uploader and send them the details of the Notice;
- answer you in writing, by email, and say what we did.
Incomplete Notice. If a Notice lacks any of the details in section 2, we tell you what is missing. The 24 hours start when the Notice is complete.
Our role. We do not decide who owns the rights. That question is for you, the uploader and, if needed, the courts. If a message concerns something other than copyright or related rights, we handle it under section 7 or as a Report under the Community Guidelines, section 7 "How to report", and tell you so.
We remove only the items that the Notice names. If the removed Content is a Film sold in the Catalog, its sales stop, and Buyers who lose access are protected by the Purchases, Cancellations and Refunds, section 9 "Refund Floor for purchases from Sellers".
4. Counter-notice and restoration
If your Content was removed after a Notice and you believe the Notice is wrong, you may send a Counter-notice to copyright@sphere.art or by post to our legal address. It must contain:
- the removed item and the web address where it appeared;
- your reasons, for example that the work is your own, that you hold a licence, or that the law allows the use;
- your name or company name, identification number, actual and legal address, phone number and email address;
- a statement that the information in the Counter-notice is accurate.
Within 24 hours of receiving a complete Counter-notice, we forward it to the person who sent the Notice. It reaches them with your name, identification number, addresses and contact details, so that they can take the dispute to court.
We restore the Content when 14 days have passed after we forwarded the Counter-notice, unless within those 14 days the person who sent the Notice presents a court order securing the claim, such as an order that keeps the Content unavailable while a court decides the dispute. If such an order is presented, the Content stays unavailable for as long as the order requires, and we then follow the court's decision.
If you send no Counter-notice, the Content stays removed.
5. Repeat infringers
A repeat infringer is a User whose Content has been the subject of 3 valid Notices within 12 months, none of them successfully countered. We close the Account of a repeat infringer.
A Notice is successfully countered when we restore the Content under section 4. A Notice that its sender withdraws does not count, and Notices sent together about the same work count as one.
Before that point, we may take earlier steps under the Community Guidelines, section 8 "How we moderate", such as a warning or a temporary suspension. We tell the User what we did and why, and the User can appeal under the Community Guidelines, section 10 "Appeals". A repeat infringer may not open a new Account. If the User is a Seller, Buyers keep the access they paid for, as the Creator and Organizer Terms, section 13 "Suspension and ending your selling", provides, except for Content removed under this policy.
6. Unfounded and abusive Notices
Send a Notice only for rights that you hold or are authorised to enforce, and only when you believe in good faith that the use is unlawful. Whoever sends a Notice or a Counter-notice that they know to be false, or that is otherwise unlawful, is liable under Georgian law for the damage it causes, including damage to the User whose Content was removed.
If someone uses Notices to harass a User, to remove criticism or competing work, or to pose as a rights holder, we may restrict their Account under the Community Guidelines, section 11 "Repeat violations and false Reports".
7. Trademarks, likeness and other rights
Trademarks. To complain that Content uses your trademark unlawfully, write to copyright@sphere.art with the trademark and its registration details, the Content and its web address, why you consider the use unlawful, and your contact details and authority. These complaints follow our Moderation process under the Community Guidelines, section 8 "How we moderate": we may ask the uploader to respond, and we give both sides our reasons.
Image, voice and name. Publishing a person's image needs that person's consent under Article 18(5) of the Civil Code of Georgia, and we apply the same rule to a person's voice and name. To complain about such use of your likeness, write to privacy@sphere.art with the web address and a short explanation. We handle it under the Community Guidelines and your rights in the Privacy Policy, section 10 "Your rights".
Other rights. Complaints about other intellectual property, such as designs, go to copyright@sphere.art and follow the trademark route. Other unlawful Content can be reported under the Community Guidelines, section 7 "How to report".
8. Notices sent under other countries' laws
A notice written under another country's law, such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of the United States, counts as a Notice under this policy if it contains the details in section 2. If details are missing, we ask for them, as section 3 explains. We have not appointed an agent under United States law, so please send all such notices to copyright@sphere.art. The deadlines and the Counter-notice procedure in sections 3 and 4 apply to every Notice, whatever law it was written under.
9. Changes and contact
We may update this document. We tell you about material changes by email and in the Service at least 14 days before they take effect, and at least 30 days before for changes to Seller fees, Payouts or selling rules, as set out in the Terms of Service, section 15 "Changes to the Service and the Legal Documents". Earlier versions of this document are available on request at legal@sphere.art.
Contact:
- copyright@sphere.art for Notices, Counter-notices and trademark complaints;
- privacy@sphere.art for complaints about the use of your image, voice or name.
Sphere Cinema is a service operated by SPHERE.ART LLC, a limited liability company registered in Georgia under identification code 416396983, with its legal address at 14 Megobroba Avenue, 8th floor, apartment 27, Rustavi, Georgia. More details are on the Company Details page.