I received a DMCA Takedown notice

Receiving a DMCA takedown notice from Shopify regarding your theme can be alarming, but it's important to stay calm. These notices are designed to protect intellectual property and can be resolved quickly if you act promptly. Typically, you have 24 hours to comply with the requests in the notice. If you fail to act within this timeframe, your store could be taken offline until the issue is resolved.

What is a DMCA Notice?

A DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notice is a formal notification that your content has allegedly infringed on someone else's copyright. These notices are part of anti-piracy measures taken by Shopify and its theme development partners. The goal is to protect the intellectual property rights of creators. Theme piracy costs Shopify theme development teams tens of thousands of dollars per year which results in impaired/reduced support availability, slower theme updates and sadly employee burnout.

DMCA notices are the standard protocol for reporting and addressing copyright infringements. They serve to alert you that your content may be using someone else’s copyrighted material without permission.

Why Did I Receive a DMCA Notice?

If you've received a DMCA notice regarding your Shopify theme, it typically means that there is no link within the Shopify theme store's sales data to your store. Our themes are available for purchase from the Shopify theme store and, in the past, were also available for purchase from our own website. If there is insufficient data available that allows our records to track which store a theme was purchased for, then you may receive one of these notices.

If You Purchased from the Shopify Theme Store

If you purchased the theme from Shopify's theme store, it is important to note that:

• A Shopify theme purchase grants you the permission to use that theme in the store/account it was purchased under. If you have exported that theme to another Shopify store, that new store is using an unlicensed theme. A copy of the theme will need to be purchased for each store where the theme will be used.

• If you purchased from a store/account that is now closed but are using the theme in a new store, you will need to reach out to Shopify's support to ensure that they transfer the theme purchase to the new store. This will apply the correct licensing and remove the potential for future licensing issues.

• Shopify's data for theme purchases was updated in 2013. If you purchased your theme prior to September 2013, reach out to Shopify's support team; they will be able to match the historic purchase to your store.

If You Purchased from Our Website

If you purchased the theme from our website directly (prior to 2018), reach out to us. We can have the notice removed, match the theme purchase to your store, and have the issue resolved with Shopify's legal team.

If You Purchased from a Third Party

We see many instances where developers have provided a copy of the theme to merchants. We are also aware of copies of our themes being sold on other websites, often bundled with other themes as a package. Neither have the legal rights or permission to resell our themes.

The only legitimate channels for our themes are Shopify's theme store and our own website (prior to 2018).

Using a theme provided by another party or from any other website means that you are using an unlicensed theme and will eventually receive a DMCA takedown notice. Anti-piracy measures are being shared by theme development partners, Shopify is also adding counter measures to ensure that the platform remains safe and compliant.

Third party themes are often sourced from within Shopify stores where bad actors are downloading copies of themes that they find. Most often those themes are then sold as zip folders that still contain code relevant to apps and scripts installed on the original store, these files can also contain malicious code that could be a security risk for your store and your customers sensitive data.

If you have purchased from a third party, you will need to purchase the theme from the Shopify theme store to avoid the takedown action.

By understanding and properly responding to DMCA notices, you can minimize disruptions to your Shopify store and continue to provide a high-quality, compliant theme to your customers.

We remain committed to providing the highest quality Shopify themes. With your vigilance, we can continue to offer you the best possible support for years to come.