Copyright Policy

1Introduction

Lynx respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects all members of its community — students, alumni, and venture capitalists operating within the Vanderbilt University network — to do the same. We comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), codified at 17 U.S.C. § 512, and have implemented policies and procedures designed to maintain our safe harbor protections as an online service provider.

Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(c), a service provider that stores content at the direction of its users may avoid copyright liability for that content provided it: (i) lacks actual or constructive knowledge of infringing material; (ii) expeditiously removes or disables access to material once it obtains such knowledge; and (iii) designates an agent to receive infringement notifications and files that designation with the U.S. Copyright Office. Lynx satisfies each of these requirements. Our designated DMCA agent is identified in Section 8 of this policy.

This Copyright Policy supplements the User Agreement and the Professional Community Policy. In the event of a conflict between this policy and those documents with respect to intellectual property matters, this Copyright Policy controls.

2Lynx’s Intellectual Property

The Lynx platform — including its user interface, visual design, layout, source code, compiled application code, APIs, data models, and all original written content produced by Lynx — is the exclusive property of Lynx and is protected by United States and international copyright laws. All rights in the platform not expressly granted to you in the User Agreement are reserved by Lynx. You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, publicly display, modify, create derivative works from, reverse-engineer, or otherwise exploit any part of the platform without prior written permission from Lynx.

The name “Lynx,” the gold wordmark, the gold logo mark, and all associated trade dress are trademarks and/or service marks of Lynx (registered or common-law). You may not use Lynx’s trademarks in any manner that is likely to cause confusion, that implies sponsorship or endorsement by Lynx, or that disparages Lynx, without express written consent. References to Lynx in news, commentary, or academic analysis are permitted under nominative fair use, provided such use does not misrepresent Lynx’s products, services, or affiliations.

Nothing in this policy grants you any right, title, or interest in Lynx’s intellectual property. Feedback, suggestions, and ideas you voluntarily submit to Lynx (e.g., through support channels or community forums) may be used by Lynx without obligation to you, unless otherwise agreed in writing.

3Your Content and License to Lynx

You retain ownership of all original content you post on Lynx, including startup idea titles and descriptions, project names and descriptions, open role listings, profile biographies, avatar and banner images uploaded to Lynx’s storage infrastructure, and direct message text. Lynx does not claim ownership of your content. You are solely responsible for ensuring that the content you post does not infringe the copyright, trademark, right of publicity, or other intellectual property right of any third party.

By posting content on Lynx, you grant Lynx a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license to use, store, reproduce, adapt, modify (for formatting purposes only), publicly display, publicly perform, and distribute that content solely to the extent necessary to operate, maintain, and improve the Lynx platform and to fulfill our obligations to you under the User Agreement. This includes, for example, resizing profile images for display in various UI contexts, caching content on our servers and CDN, and delivering content to other authorized users of the platform.

This license is limited in scope to the Lynx platform and does not grant Lynx any right to sell your content, license it to unrelated third parties, or use it in advertising without your separate consent. The license terminates automatically with respect to any content you delete from the platform, subject to reasonable technical propagation delays and backup retention schedules described in our Privacy Policy. Content that other users have reshared or saved prior to deletion may remain accessible to those users in accordance with the inter-user license described in Section 4.

4License Between Users

When you post content that is publicly visible to other authenticated members of the Lynx platform — such as a publicly listed startup idea, a project profile, or an open role posting — you grant each logged-in Vanderbilt community member a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable license to view and read that content within the Lynx platform for personal, non-commercial purposes connected to networking, collaboration, and co-founder discovery. This license does not permit other users to reproduce, redistribute, publicly display, or create derivative works from your content outside of the Lynx platform.

Direct messages are not publicly visible and are not subject to this inter-user license. The recipient of a direct message receives only the limited right to read that message in connection with the conversation thread and to retain a copy for personal reference; they may not forward, publish, or otherwise share message content without your consent except as required by law.

You acknowledge that Lynx cannot guarantee that other users will comply with these license restrictions. If you believe another user is misusing your content outside the platform, you should contact us at legal@lynx.community and, if applicable, pursue remedies directly against that user.

5DMCA Takedown Procedure

If you believe that content hosted on Lynx infringes your copyright, you may submit a written takedown notification to our designated DMCA agent pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3). To be legally effective, your notification must be a written communication submitted to the contact information listed in Section 8 and must include substantially all of the following elements:

1. Identification of the copyrighted work. A description of the copyrighted work (or a representative list of works, if multiple works are at issue) that you claim has been infringed. If available, include the URL, registration number, or other identifying information for the original work.
2. Identification of the infringing material. A description of the material you claim is infringing that is sufficiently specific to permit Lynx to locate the material on its service. Please provide the full URL to each specific piece of content at issue (e.g., the URL of the idea listing, project page, or profile).
3. Contact information. Your name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address so that Lynx and, if necessary, the alleged infringer can contact you.
4. Good faith statement. A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
5. Accuracy statement. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.
6. Signature.A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf. Typing your full legal name in the body of the notification constitutes an electronic signature for this purpose.

Notifications that omit required information may be deemed deficient and will not trigger Lynx’s DMCA safe harbor obligations until the deficiency is cured. Upon receipt of a complete and facially valid notification, Lynx will expeditiously: (a) remove or disable access to the identified content; (b) take reasonable steps to notify the user who posted the content that their content has been removed; and (c) provide that user with a copy of the takedown notification (with your personal contact information redacted if you request confidentiality) so they may submit a counter-notice if they believe the removal was in error.

Please be advised that submitting a materially false or bad-faith DMCA notification may subject you to liability under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), including liability for damages, attorneys’ fees, and costs incurred by the alleged infringer or Lynx. Lynx reserves the right to seek such remedies to the fullest extent permitted by law.

6Counter-Notice Procedure

If your content was removed or disabled as a result of a DMCA takedown notification and you believe the removal was the result of mistake or misidentification of the material, you may submit a written counter-notice to our designated DMCA agent at the contact information in Section 8. A valid counter-notice under 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3) must include all of the following:

1. Identification of removed material. A description of the material that was removed or disabled and the location (URL) at which it appeared before removal, sufficient for Lynx to identify the material.
2. Statement of good faith belief. A statement under penalty of perjury that you have 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.
3. Consent to jurisdiction. 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 you are located outside the United States, any judicial district in which Lynx may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided the original takedown notification or an agent of such person.
4. Contact information. Your name, physical address, telephone number, and email address.
5. Signature. Your physical or electronic signature. Typing your full legal name in the body of the counter-notice constitutes an electronic signature for this purpose.

Upon receipt of a facially complete counter-notice, Lynx will forward a copy to the original claimant and inform them that Lynx will restore or re-enable the removed material no sooner than ten (10) and no later than fourteen (14) business days from the date of the counter-notice, unless Lynx first receives notice from the original claimant that they have filed an action seeking a court order to restrain you from engaging in the infringing activity. If no such court action is filed within that window, Lynx will, in its discretion, restore or re-enable access to the removed content.

Please note that submitting a materially false counter-notice may subject you to liability under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f) and other applicable law. If you are uncertain about whether the removed content infringes any copyright, you should consult a qualified attorney before submitting a counter-notice.

7Repeat Infringers

In accordance with 17 U.S.C. § 512(i)(1)(A), Lynx maintains and enforces a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of users who are repeat copyright infringers. A user is considered a “repeat infringer” for purposes of this policy if Lynx has received two or more valid, non-retracted DMCA takedown notifications identifying content posted by that user, or if Lynx has otherwise determined, in its reasonable judgment, that the user has repeatedly infringed the copyrights of others.

Lynx reserves the right to terminate a user’s account upon a first infringement determination in cases involving willful infringement, large-scale copying, or conduct that poses significant legal risk to the platform or its users. Account termination under this policy is final and Lynx is under no obligation to restore a terminated account, except where Lynx determines in its sole discretion that termination was an error.

Nothing in this section limits Lynx’s rights to take other remedial action with respect to infringing content or infringing users, including but not limited to issuing warnings, imposing temporary account suspensions, or removing specific content, in each case without prior notice.

8Contact Us

All DMCA takedown notifications and counter-notices must be directed to Lynx’s designated copyright agent. The designated agent is also registered with the U.S. Copyright Office as required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(2). General intellectual property inquiries unrelated to a specific DMCA claim should be directed to our legal team.