Copyright & Grievance Policy

Effective Date: August 2026

Semly is deeply committed to respecting the intellectual property rights of others while vigorously defending our own proprietary creations and operating within the statutory exemptions provided for educational platforms.

1. Educational Fair Dealing

A significant portion of the materials hosted on Semly, specifically the Previous Year Question Papers (PYQs), public university syllabi, and reference books (collectively referred to as "Triple-Added Material"), are sourced from the public domain or distributed directly by universities for their students.

Statutory Exemption: We aggregate and distribute these materials completely free of charge. This distribution is strictly protected under the doctrine of "Fair Dealing" as outlined in Section 52(1)(a) and Section 52(1)(i) of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, which explicitly exempts from infringement the reproduction of any work by a teacher or a pupil in the course of instruction, or for the purpose of private study or research.

Watermarking: Semly automatically applies digital watermarks to downloaded PDFs. This watermarking is solely to protect the curated, aggregated presentation and bandwidth of the Platform from automated scraper bots. Semly explicitly does not claim copyright ownership over the underlying text of third-party public university materials.

2. Strict Ownership of Semly Handwritten Notes

In stark contrast to public materials, all "Semly Handwritten Notes", proprietary AI datasets, platform source code, and User Interface designs are original works owned exclusively by Semly.

These proprietary materials are fiercely protected by Indian and International Copyright Law. Access to Semly Handwritten Notes is strictly licensed for personal viewing. Any unauthorized downloading, scraping, screenshotting, or redistribution of Semly Handwritten Notes to third-party platforms (e.g., Telegram, WhatsApp groups, other websites) will result in an immediate permanent ban without refund, and Semly reserves the right to initiate civil proceedings for copyright infringement and claim liquidated damages.

3. YouTube Embed Compliance

All video content on Semly is served via the official YouTube Embedded Player API. Under YouTube's Terms of Service, video creators who enable embedding grant an implied license for their public videos to be displayed on third-party sites. Semly does not host these videos, claims no ownership over them, and does not interfere with the creator's advertisements or monetization.

4. DMCA & Grievance Redressal Mechanism

In compliance with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 and international DMCA standards, Semly has appointed a Grievance Officer to handle claims of copyright infringement.

If you are a copyright owner and believe in good faith that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes infringement outside the bounds of Fair Dealing, you must submit a formal takedown notice to our Grievance Officer containing:

• A physical or electronic signature of the authorized copyright owner.
• Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed.
• The exact URL on Semly where the material is located.
• Your contact information (email, phone number, and address).
• A statement under penalty of perjury that the use is unauthorized and the notification is accurate.