DMCA Notice and Takedown

How RetroGameSpace Works (and Why It Matters Here)

RetroGameSpace operates as a transient caching reverse-proxy. When a user clicks "Play", we fetch the requested file on demand from publicly accessible third-party archives, pass it through to the user's browser, and hold it in our edge cache for no more than 24 hours for performance reasons. We do not seed, mirror, or maintain durable storage of ROM or BIOS bytes on infrastructure under our control. We rely on the safe harbours of DMCA § 512(b) (system caching) and § 512(c) (information residing on systems at the direction of users) to the extent applicable. Whenever a valid takedown notice is confirmed, the file is added to a permanent denylist that returns HTTP 410 Gone, and any cached copy at the edge is purged immediately.

Six Required Elements of a Notice

For us to act on your notice, it must include all of the following six elements. Submitting an incomplete notice may delay or prevent action.

1. 1. Physical or Electronic Signature
   A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive right that is allegedly infringed (17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3)(A)(i)).
2. 2. Identification of the Copyrighted Work
   Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or — if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification — a representative list of such works (§ 512(c)(3)(A)(ii)).
3. 3. Identification of the Infringing Material
   Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity, with information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material — for example, the full URL on retrogamespace.com or the game slug shown in the URL bar (§ 512(c)(3)(A)(iii)).
4. 4. Your Contact Information
   Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an email address (§ 512(c)(3)(A)(iv)).
5. 5. 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 (§ 512(c)(3)(A)(v)).
6. 6. Statement of Accuracy and Authority, Under Penalty of Perjury
   A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed (§ 512(c)(3)(A)(vi)).

How to Submit

Submit your notice by either (a) emailing abuse@retrogamespace.com with all six elements above included in the body of the message or as a signed PDF attachment, or (b) using the form below, which collects the same information and writes it directly to our intake queue. Both routes go to the same operator and are tracked under the same case number.

Service Level

We aim to acknowledge receipt of every notice within 72 hours. If the notice is complete and clearly identifies infringing material on the Service, the offending file will be added to our denylist and any edge-cached copy will be purged within 24 hours of confirmation. Holiday periods and time-zone differences may extend this slightly.

Counter-Notification

If you believe material you posted (e.g. a cloud save) was removed by mistake or misidentification, you may send us a counter-notification under 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3). Your counter-notification must include: (i) your physical or electronic signature; (ii) identification of the material removed and the location at which it appeared before removal; (iii) a statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief that the material was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification; (iv) your name, 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, the courts of Hong Kong, and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided the original notification or an agent of that person.

Repeat-Infringer Policy

In accordance with 17 U.S.C. § 512(i), it is our policy to terminate, in appropriate circumstances and at our sole discretion, the accounts of users who are deemed to be repeat infringers. Anonymous users (no account) who repeatedly trigger valid takedowns through the cloud-save channel will have all of their cloud-save data removed and will be IP-banned from the cloud-save endpoints for an appropriate period.

Misuse and False Claims

Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material is infringing, or that material was removed by mistake or misidentification, may be liable for damages, including costs and attorneys' fees, incurred by us, by any copyright owner, by the alleged infringer, or by any service provider injured by the misrepresentation. Please do not submit a notice unless you genuinely believe in good faith that the material is infringing.

Special Notes on BIOS Files

BIOS images for certain platforms (PlayStation, Neo Geo, PGM) are passed through from upstream archives in the same transient-caching manner as ROMs, with the cache TTL clamped to 24 hours. Rights holders who wish those files removed should treat them as ordinary takedown targets — identify the file by URL (for example, /api/bios/psx-bios.zip) and we will denylist it through the same procedure as ROMs. Users who own original hardware are encouraged to dump their own BIOS for personal use.

Submit a Notice

All fields are required to satisfy 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3). Submitting this form has the same legal effect as sending a signed letter; please review it before clicking Send.