Copyright & DMCA Policy

We put a lot of work into every guide on Life in Steps, and we respect the work of other creators too. This page explains how you can use our content and what to do if you believe something on our site infringes your copyright.

Who owns our content

Unless otherwise noted, all content on lifeinsteps.com, including articles, checklists, pin designs, graphics, logos and the design of the site, is owned by Life in Steps or used under license, and is protected by US and international copyright laws.

What you're welcome to do

• Share links. Share links to our articles anywhere: social media, messages, forums or your own website.
• Pin our images. Pinning our images to Pinterest is welcome, as long as the pin links back to the original article on lifeinsteps.com and our branding isn't removed or altered.
• Quote briefly. Quote a short excerpt (a sentence or two) if you credit Life in Steps and link to the original article.
• Save for yourself. Print or save articles for your own personal, non-commercial use.

What's not allowed

Without our written permission, please don't:

• republish full articles or substantial parts of them, on another website or anywhere else, even with credit;
• use our images on your own site or products, other than through pins and links that point back to us;
• scrape or bulk-copy our content, or use it to create competing content;
• sell, license or otherwise use our content for commercial purposes.

If you'd like to use our content in a way not covered here, email us at hello@lifeinsteps.com. We're happy to consider requests.

Image credits

Unless otherwise noted, photos on Life in Steps are licensed from Pexels under the Pexels License or are our own. Pin designs, graphics and illustrations are created by Life in Steps. Stock photos remain the property of their photographers, so if you'd like to use one, please download it from the original source under its license instead of copying it from our site. Read more about how we choose images in our Editorial Policy.

If you think we've used your work

We take copyright seriously and never knowingly use someone else's work without permission. If you believe we've used your content or images incorrectly, the quickest way to resolve it is to email us at hello@lifeinsteps.com. In most cases, we'll add the correct credit or remove the material promptly, without the need for a formal notice.

How to report copyright infringement (DMCA notice)

If you prefer to send a formal notice under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), please email it to hello@lifeinsteps.com with the subject line "DMCA notice". Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3), your notice must include:

1. your physical or electronic signature, or that of a person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner;
2. a description of the copyrighted work you believe has been infringed (or, if several works are involved, a representative list);
3. a description of the material you believe is infringing and enough information for us to find it, such as the exact URL of the page;
4. your contact information, including your name, postal address, phone number and email address;
5. a statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use of the material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law;
6. 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.

Before you send a notice, please consider whether the use could be fair use or otherwise permitted. Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), anyone who knowingly makes a material misrepresentation in a notice or counter-notice may be liable for damages. Notices that don't include the required information may not be acted on.

When we receive a valid notice, we'll review it and, where appropriate, remove or disable access to the material and let you know what we've done.

Counter-notice

Our site doesn't host content uploaded by visitors, so most notices concern material we published ourselves. If material you provided to us was removed because of a notice and you believe it was removed by mistake or misidentification, you can send a counter-notice to hello@lifeinsteps.com. It must include:

1. your physical or electronic signature;
2. a description of the material that was removed and where it appeared before removal;
3. a statement, under penalty of perjury, that you have a good-faith belief the material was removed as a result of a mistake or misidentification;
4. your name, address and phone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for the judicial district where your address is located (or, if your address is outside the United States, any judicial district in which we may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the person who submitted the original notice or their agent.

If we receive a valid counter-notice, we may send a copy to the person who submitted the original notice. Unless they tell us they have filed a court action, we may restore the material within the time frames set out in the DMCA.

Repeat infringers

We don't currently offer user accounts or accept uploads from visitors. If that changes, we will, in appropriate circumstances, disable access for anyone who repeatedly infringes copyrights. We also apply the same standard to ourselves: if we learn that something on our site infringes someone's rights, we remove or replace it.

Contact

For copyright questions, permission requests or notices, email us at hello@lifeinsteps.com.