TroveStays — Copyright and Intellectual-Property Takedown Policy
TroveStays respects intellectual-property rights and expects its Users to respect them too. This policy tells you how to ask us to take down content from the Platform that infringes a copyright, trademark, or other intellectual-property right that you own or are authorised to act for, and how a User whose content has been taken down can respond. It is part of our Terms and Conditions (
01-terms-and-conditions.md).
1. Scope
1.1 This policy covers complaints about content posted on the Platform by TroveStays Users that you believe:
- (a) infringes a copyright under the Copyright Ordinance (Cap. 528) or an equivalent law in your jurisdiction; or
- (b) infringes a trademark under the Trade Marks Ordinance (Cap. 559) or an equivalent law; or
- (c) infringes any other intellectual-property right that you own or have authority to enforce (for example, a registered design, a database right, or a personality / publicity right under applicable law).
1.2 If your concern is defamation, a privacy or doxxing complaint, an Acceptable Use Policy concern, or another non-IP issue, please use the channels in the Acceptable Use Policy (05-acceptable-use-policy.md) or the Privacy Policy (02-privacy-policy.md) instead.
2. How to submit a takedown notice
Send the notice to support@trovestays.com with the subject line "Takedown notice — [Your name or organisation]". To allow us to act, your notice must contain all of the following:
2.1 Your details.
- Your full legal name (or the name of the organisation on whose behalf you are acting);
- Your postal address and email address;
- Your phone number (we may need to call you);
- If you are acting for an organisation, your role within it;
- If you are acting for someone else as their agent (for example a brand-protection agency or a law firm), the name of the person you are acting for and a brief description of your authority to act.
2.2 Identification of your right.
- The exact intellectual-property right you say is being infringed (for example, "copyright in the photograph titled 'Hotel X lobby 2025-08-12' taken by me on 12 August 2025", or "registered trademark 'XYZ' in Hong Kong, Class 39, registration number ...");
- Where applicable, a copy of the registration certificate or a link to the public register entry;
- A short explanation of the basis on which you own or are authorised to act for that right.
2.3 Identification of the allegedly infringing content.
- A direct link to each post, comment, profile, or other piece of content that you say infringes;
- For each item, a short explanation of what about it infringes (for example, "this is a verbatim copy of my photograph identified in section 2.2 above, posted without my permission").
2.4 Statements. Two statements made by you and over your signature (an electronic signature or a typed name in the email body is sufficient):
- (a) "I have a good-faith belief that the use of the material identified above is not authorised by the rights-holder, its agent, or the law."
- (b) "The information in this notice is accurate, and I am the rights-holder or am authorised to act on behalf of the rights-holder of the right that I claim is being infringed. I understand that knowingly making a false claim may expose me to liability for damages."
2.5 Misuse. A notice that does not meet these requirements may be acted on more slowly or, if obviously frivolous, not at all. Submitting a knowingly false notice may give the affected User a claim against you and may give us cause to refuse future notices from you.
3. What happens after we receive a notice
3.1 Acknowledgement. We aim to acknowledge a properly-formed notice within two (2) business days.
3.2 Review. We review the notice. We may ask you for more information. If on the face of the notice the content appears to infringe and your right and authority appear to be in order, we will remove or restrict access to the content. We may also notify the affected User and provide them with a copy of your notice (which is why we need accurate contact details).
3.3 Timing. We aim to take action — either removal/restriction or a written response explaining why we are not removing — within ten (10) business days of a complete notice. Complex matters may take longer; we will keep you informed.
3.4 Records. We keep records of takedown notices, our decisions, and any counter-notices for the period set out in the Privacy Policy.
3.5 Repeat-infringer rule. Where an account is the subject of three (3) valid IP takedown notices within any rolling twelve (12) month period, we terminate the account. A notice is "valid" for this purpose if we acted on it under clause 3.2 and the affected User did not successfully counter-notify under Section 4.
4. Counter-notice (for the affected User)
4.1 If your content has been removed under this policy and you believe the takedown was wrong — for example because you do own the rights, because you have a licence to use the material, because the use is permitted under a fair-dealing exception under the Copyright Ordinance, or because the material identified is not in fact yours — you may send a counter-notice to support@trovestays.com with the subject line "Counter-notice — [Original takedown reference]".
4.2 A counter-notice must include:
- (a) your name, postal address, email, and phone number;
- (b) identification of the content that was removed (including any reference number we gave you);
- (c) a brief explanation of why you believe the takedown was wrong; and
- (d) a statement that "I have a good-faith belief that the content was removed by mistake or misidentification" and that "the information in this counter-notice is accurate; I understand that knowingly making a false counter-notice may expose me to liability for damages".
4.3 What happens next:
- (a) we acknowledge your counter-notice;
- (b) we forward (a redacted version of) your counter-notice to the original notice-giver;
- (c) we typically restore the content ten (10) to fourteen (14) business days after we forward the counter-notice, unless the original notice-giver tells us they have commenced legal action in a court of competent jurisdiction to keep it down;
- (d) where they have, we will keep the content down pending the outcome of that action.
5. Our position — what this policy does and does not do
5.1 This policy is the route by which we discharge our practical obligations under Hong Kong copyright and IP law and preserve our position under the common-law doctrine of innocent dissemination (and, where it applies to us, equivalent safe-harbour-style protections in other jurisdictions). It does not create rights for you that you would not otherwise have under the relevant law, and it does not constitute an admission by us of liability for any particular content.
5.2 We are not a tribunal. We do not decide the merits of a dispute between a complainant and a User; we decide whether on the face of the materials before us we will keep the content up or take it down pending any formal proceedings.
5.3 Nothing in this policy stops you from seeking relief in a court of competent jurisdiction at any time.
6. Counterfeit and impersonation — additional notes for hotels and brands
6.1 If you are a hotel and you object to the use of your brand, premises, trademarks, or imagery on the Platform, please follow the procedure above. We will work with you to find the right balance between (a) your trademark and brand rights and (b) Users' right to express their experiences of visiting your hotel, which is at the heart of the Platform.
6.2 If you would prefer a structured relationship with us — for example to have your hotel "claimed", to surface your own content, or to interact directly with Creators — please write to support@trovestays.com to discuss.
7. How to contact us
- IP and takedown: support@trovestays.com
- General legal: support@trovestays.com
- Postal: 26 Square Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
Version history
| Version | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 2026-06-11 | Initial public version. |