InMotion Hosting Legal FAQs

Last Updated: October 08, 2021
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY.

The purpose of these frequently asked questions (FAQs) is to provide information about our processes and procedures regarding complaints and violations of our policies as outlined in our terms of service and privacy policy. Because of the generality of these FAQs, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations. We disclaim all liability whatsoever in relation to any materials or information provided.These FAQs are provided solely for educational and informational purposes. It is not intended to constitute legal advice. If you wish to secure legal advice specific to your enterprise and circumstances in connection with any of the topics addressed, we encourage you to engage counsel of your choice.

What does the InMotion Hosting Legal Department handle?

The InMotion Legal Admin Team are not lawyers which handle all non-technical complaints and related requests regarding InMotion Hosting accounts, including but not limited to DMCA/copyright complaints, trademark issues, doxxing, defamatory materials, GDPR, CCPA, privacy matters and other claims related to our terms of service, policies,
notices and other agreements.

Our Legal Inquiries Form can be accessed at: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/legal-inquiries

Technical issues (e.g., spamming, phishing, and hacks) should be reported to our Systems Team at: abuse@inmotionhosting.com.

What is a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice?

A DMCA takedown notice is a written notice informing an Internet service that they are hosting or linking to material that infringes on a copyright.The following items must be included within a DMCA takedown notice:

Signature of the copyright owner whose work was infringed
Identification of the copyrighted work that has allegedly been violated (e.g., name, title, type of media)
Specifics about the portion of the copyrighted work that has been infringed
Contact information for the copyright owner
Statement that indicates that permission has not been granted to use the copyrighted work
Statement that the information contained in the DMCA takedown notice is accurate and that the person writing the notice has the authority to act on behalf of the copyrighted work (can either be the copyright owner or an agent of the copyright holder).

For more information visit https://www.copyright.gov/dmca/.

What is a copyright?

A copyright is the exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the originator for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material. Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved 20 December 2018. For more information, please visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright#cite_note-1.

What do we do when we get a copyright complaint?

Within a reasonable time of receiving a DMCA takedown notice, we take action in order to benefit from the DMCA’s safe-harbor provisions to avoid legal liability.We initially review and confirm the alleged copyright infringement listed on the takedown notice.Once confirmed, we typically send the DMCA notice to the offending party (i.e., our customer) allowing 24 hours to remove the offending materials, file a counter-notification (which challenges the claims in the notice which requires specific information) or fill out, sign, and return our reinstatement declaration (https://www.inmotionhosting.com/legal/reinstatement-declaration/).If no action is taken within the time frame we suspend (i.e., visually deactivate) the domain in question and restrict access to the Account Management Panel (AMP).
For more information visit https://www.copyright.gov/dmca/.

What can I do if someone makes a copyright infringement claim against me and I believe that there is no infringement or I have the permission of the copyright holder to use their work?

If you believe a DMCA takedown notice was improperly filed against you, similar to submitting a takedown, a DMCA counter notice must include all of the:

● A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.

● Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed
or access to it was disabled.
● A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
● The subscriber’s name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriber’s address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.

If you decide to file a counter notice, access to the website/content will be suspended
until the conclusion of the counter notice process. At the end of the time period, if a
proper counter notice is provided and insufficient evidence of ownership of the copyright
is provided by the complainant, the matter will be considered closed and the content
may be reposted.

You may file a DMCA counter-notice here: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/dmca-counter-notice

For more information visit https://www.copyright.gov/dmca/.

What about fair use?

Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. For more information visit https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html.

We are not legal advocates for customers and do not engage in arguments over what is
and is not fair use.

What is a trademark?

A trademark can be any word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination of these things that identifies your goods or services. It’s how customers recognize you in the marketplace and distinguish you from your competitors. For more information visit https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/what-trademark.

What is trademark infringement?

Trademark infringement is the unauthorized use of a trademark or service mark on or in connection with goods and/or services in a manner that is likely to cause confusion, deception, or mistake about the source of the goods and/or services. For more information visit https://www.uspto.gov/page/about-trademark-infringement.

What if I am a licensed distributor of a trademarked product?

If you are a licensed distributor of a trademarked product, you should contact the complainant and have them rescind their complaint. You may also consider contacting the trademark owner of the complaint. If a complaint is rescinded, the matter will be closed.

What is secondary (contributory) trademark infringement?

Contributory trademark infringement occurs when a party continues use of a trademark without the trademark owner’s permission after being notified that the use is not authorized. That party is held liable for secondary infringement despite not having directly engaged in activities that legally constitute infringement. For more information visit https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/contributory_infringement.

What happens when we get a trademark infringement complaint?

Due to the risk of liability for secondary (contributory) infringement, the site in question is immediately suspended (i.e., visually deactivated) and restricted access to the Account Management Panel (AMP). Notice of the suspension is sent to the primary email address for the account holder. In order to restore a site, the infringing materials must be removed and a reinstatement declaration (https://www.inmotionhosting.com/legal/reinstatement-declaration/) must be filled out, signed, and returned to us. The account can be restored without the declaration and removal of materials only if the complainant rescinds the complaint.

What is doxing (or aka doxxing)?

Doxxing (short for “dropping dox”) is an online attack in which hackers dig up personal information and documents (i.e., the “dox” of “dropping dox”) with the intention, be it implicit or explicit, to expose the real identities of people hoping to remain anonymous or in a serious situation to incite violence against them.

For more information visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doxing.

What do we do when we receive a doxxing complaint?

Due to the sensitive nature and possible harm that could come as the result of doxxing conduct, the site is suspended (i.e., visually deactivated) immediately, restrict access to the Account Management Panel – AMP), our customer is notified that the materials must be removed and reinstatement declaration (https://www.inmotionhosting.com/legal/reinstatement-declaration/) must be returned before the site will be permitted to go live again.

What do we do when we get a complaint about public information being published?

Public information is any information publicly available through any public database. As long as the information is publicly available and without any legal basis, law enforcement investigation or validly issued court order, we are unable to demand removal of the content.

What is defamation?

Defamation is a false statement that harms the reputation of a third party. Defamation includes both libel (written statements) and slander (spoken statements).

How do we handle defamation complaints?

Within a reasonable time of receiving a defamation complaint, we take action in order to benefit from the safe-harbor provisions under the law to avoid legal liability. We send a violation notice to our customer (i.e., offending party) and allow the customer 24 hours to remove the material in question. If no action is taken by our customer and/or if our customer fails to fill out, sign, and return the reinstatement declaration (https://www.inmotionhosting.com/legal/reinstatement-declaration/), we suspend (i.e., visually deactivate) the domain in question and restrict access to the Account Management Panel (AMP).

How do we handle general violations of our Terms of Service (TOS)?

Within a reasonable time of receiving a TOS complaint, we take action. Depending on the severity of the alleged infraction, we send a notice to our customer (i.e., offending party) and allow the customer 24 hours to remove the materials in question. If no action is taken by our customer and/or if our customer fails to fill out, sign, and
return the reinstatement declaration (https://www.inmotionhosting.com/legal/reinstatement-declaration/), we suspend (i.e., visually deactivate) the domain in question and restrict access to the Account Management Panel (AMP).

What is adult content?

We view adult content as any material, including audio or video material, which is pornographic or which contains nudity, explicit sexual material or depictions of sexual acts . We will not debate whether something is or should be considered art. We strictly prohibit adult content on our servers.

We partner with a hosting provider that allows adult content. If you are interested in learning about their products and services, visit www.ramnode.com.

What is revenge porn and how do we handle it?

We view revenge porn as the distribution of adult content of a person without their consent. Within a reasonable time of receiving a revenge porn complaint, we take action. We send a notice to our customer (i.e., offending party) and allow the customer 24 hours to remove the materials in question. If no action is taken by our customer and/or if our customer fails to fill out, sign, and return the reinstatement declaration (https://www.inmotionhosting.com/legal/reinstatement-declaration/), we suspend (i.e., visually deactivate) the domain in question and restrict access to the Account Management Panel (AMP).

What is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)?

The General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR is a newly adopted (effective May 25th, 2018) set of regulations meant to give members of the European Union control over their personally identifiable information. For more information visit https://www.inmotionhosting.com/privacy/gdpr/

What is the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)?

The California Consumer Privacy Act or CCPA is a newly adopted (effective January 1st, 2020) law that applies to California residents as well as certain California based companies to give California residents control over their personally identifiable information. For more information visit https://www.inmotionhosting.com/privacy/ccpa/

What is Personally Identifiable Information (PII)?

This definition varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Generally, it is personal data or
information related to an identifiable person.

What is a Reinstatement Declaration?

A Reinstatement Declaration is a form we may require to be filled out in the event we receive a complaint about a customer’s website or violation of our terms of service, notices or policies. The form is an acknowledgement by our customer of a potential or actual violation and affirmative statement that the customer will remove the content in
question or face deactivation of the customer’s account. For more information visit
https://www.inmotionhosting.com/legal/reinstatement-declaration/

What happens when my account is suspended?

Depending on the nature of the violation of our terms of service, notices or policies, a customer’s site may be immediately suspended (i.e., visually deactivated) and restrict access to the Account Management Panel (AMP). Generally, a customer’s other sites are unaffected. A customer will have full backend access to all the other sites via
cPanel, WHM, FTP, and/or WordPress. The suspended site will have access via cPanel, WHM, and FTP. If access is needed for WordPress for the restricted site, the customer will need to call our technical support department to have your IP address whitelisted. Please note that we cannot whitelist blocks of IPs or IPs if a customer is using a VPN, in which instance the customer will need to disconnect from a VPN.

Here are some how-to articles on backend access:

cPanel: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/cpanel/how-to-log-into-cpanel/
WHM: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/whm/whm-login/
FTP: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/website/ftp/getting-started-guide/
WordPress: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/wordpress/logging-into-wordpress-dashboard/

What is our repeat offender policy?

If a customer has three infractions of our terms of service, notices or policies, we may. terminate their services.

What happens if I am terminated?

In the event of termination, all services are suspended (i.e., visually deactivated) immediately. The files for the account are packaged and made available for download via a link that is sent to the customer. Depending on the circumstances, a prorated refund may be issued. Typically, a refund takes three to five business days to arrive via the method that the last payment was made on the account. No future services will be provided once a customer has been terminated.

Last Updated October 8th, 2021