AskWhiz respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects its users to do the same. This page explains how AskWhiz approaches copyright, how a rights holder can submit a notice of claimed copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), 17 U.S.C. § 512, and how someone whose material was removed can submit a counter-notification.
Our Copyright Posture
AskWhiz is an AI troubleshooting assistant for skilled-trades technicians. It synthesizes factual diagnostic guidance — error-code meanings, likely causes, and repair steps — from manufacturer documentation and other technical sources. The content AskWhiz presents is paraphrased and transformative: it is generated to answer a specific diagnostic question, not assembled by reproducing manufacturer manuals.
To be specific about what AskWhiz does and does not do:
- AskWhiz does not host or publicly serve manufacturer PDFs, manuals, or other source documents. The underlying documents are not made available for download or viewing on this site.
- The public-facing content (including troubleshooting and error-code pages) consists of synthesized, paraphrased, factual guidance — not verbatim copies of manufacturer materials.
- Factual information — such as what an error code means or what a diagnostic step is — is not itself protected by copyright; AskWhiz aims to convey that factual layer in its own words.
We recognize that reasonable rights holders may still have concerns about specific content. We take those concerns seriously and will review and respond to any properly submitted notice promptly, as described below. If you are a rights holder and you believe specific material on this site infringes your copyright, we would rather hear from you and address it than have you guess at our intentions.
Reporting Claimed Copyright Infringement (Takedown Notice)
If you are a copyright owner, or authorized to act on behalf of one, and you believe that material accessible on or through AskWhiz infringes your copyright, you may send a written notice of claimed infringement to our Designated Agent (contact details below).
To be effective under 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3), your notice must include all of the following six elements:
- Identification of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed. If your notice covers multiple works at a single site, you may provide a representative list of those works.
- Identification of the material you claim is infringing and that you want removed or disabled, with enough information to let us locate it — for example, the specific URL(s) on AskWhiz where the material appears.
- Your contact information — your name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address — so we can reach you.
- A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
- A statement that the information in your notice is accurate, and — under penalty of perjury — that you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on the owner's behalf.
- Your physical or electronic signature.
Please direct your notice to the Designated Agent listed below. Note that under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material is infringing may be liable for damages, including costs and attorneys' fees. If you are unsure whether material is infringing, you may wish to consult an attorney before sending a notice.
Our Response — Removal of Infringing Material
Upon receiving a notice that complies with the requirements above, AskWhiz will act expeditiously to remove or disable access to the material identified as infringing. Where appropriate and where we have the necessary contact information, we may also notify the affected user (for example, an account holder who submitted content) that the material has been removed or disabled.
If a notice does not substantially comply with the statutory requirements, we may be unable to act on it, and we may contact you to request a corrected notice.
Counter-Notification (Restoring Removed Material)
If you are a user of AskWhiz and your material was removed or disabled as a result of a DMCA notice, and you believe the material was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification, you may submit a written counter-notification to our Designated Agent.
To be effective under 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3), your counter-notification must include all of the following:
- Your physical or electronic signature.
- Identification of the material that was removed or disabled and the location at which it appeared before it was removed or disabled.
- A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification.
- Your name, mailing address, and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which your address is located (or, if your address is outside the United States, any judicial district in which AskWhiz may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the person who submitted the original notice or that person's agent.
Upon receiving a valid counter-notification, we may forward a copy to the original complaining party and inform them that we may restore the removed material in 10 to 14 business days. Unless the copyright owner files an action seeking a court order against the user, the removed material may be restored in that timeframe.
As with takedown notices, please be aware that under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), knowingly materially misrepresenting that material was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may result in liability.
Repeat-Infringer Policy
Consistent with the DMCA, AskWhiz has adopted a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of users who are determined to be repeat infringers. AskWhiz may also, in its sole discretion, limit access to the service and/or terminate the accounts of any users who infringe the intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement.
Designated Agent Contact
Notices of claimed infringement and counter-notifications under the DMCA should be sent to AskWhiz's Designated Agent:
- Designated Copyright Agent: [Name / role — to be completed]
- AskWhiz [legal entity name — to be completed]
- Email: dmca@askwhiz.io
- Mailing address: [Street, City, State/Region, Postal Code, Country — to be completed]
Please use the contact above only for copyright/DMCA matters. For all other inquiries, please use our general contact channels.
To rely on the DMCA safe harbor, this designated agent must also be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office's online DMCA Designated Agent Directory; this page does not by itself establish that registration.
Trademarks
Product names, brand names, model names, logos, and trademarks referenced on AskWhiz — including the names of equipment manufacturers (for example, in error-code and troubleshooting content) — are the property of their respective owners. Any such references are made for identification and descriptive (nominative) purposes only, to indicate the equipment a given piece of guidance relates to. AskWhiz is an independent service and is not affiliated with, authorized by, sponsored by, or endorsed by any of the manufacturers or brands referenced, and no such affiliation or endorsement should be inferred. All trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.
Related Policies
This policy works alongside our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. The intellectual-property and nominative-use positions described here mirror the corresponding sections of our Terms.