Notice & Takedown Policy

Coventry University (“We”) provide the Coventry.domains WordPress Multisite Service (the “WP Multisite”) for our students and staff, which is intended for use within learning, teaching, research engagement and professional development contexts.
WP Multisite provides several levels of permission for users associated with a website (“Website Users”), including one or more users (the “Administrator(s)”) with permissions to decide whether blog readers can comment on blog posts and to moderate readers’ comments. A user posting a specific article on a website within the WP Multisite (the “Posting User”) may or may not have this level of permission.
If a person finding content on a blog that they believe to be inappropriate, including where the content or its use may violate that person’s rights (the “Complaining User”), should be able to notify us setting out the reason they believe the content should be taken down.
Although we recognise our students should be able to hold and express opinions; develop and advance new ideas or innovative proposals; question and test established ideas and present controversial or unpopular points of views to the extent permitted by law. We shall only uphold such freedom of speech insofar as it is considered reasonable and does not contravene any of our policies, terms of use or any applicable laws.

We provide WP Multisite on the understanding that content appearing on a wesbite shall remain the responsibility of the Posting User and that We shall only intervene when seeking to minimise our risk of liability for defamatory or other malicious content, or copyright infringement, within the WP Multisite.
Website Users will be bound by WP Multisite’s terms and conditions of use (“Terms of Use”). The Terms of Use include:
- That We will not monitor content uploaded on the WP Multisite’s webpages unless we receive a complaint notice or a request from a Website User for support.
- That We retain the absolute discretion to edit, suspend or permanently withdraw content on the WP Multisite at any time.
In the event that We receive a complaint notice, prompting investigation, We may follow the takedown procedure set out below.

Takedown procedure

Notifying Coventry University

If a Complaining User wishes to notify us, they must use this link to provide:
1. their name, email address, and (where relevant) username;
2. a description of the unacceptable content and its internet location, in sufficient detail to allow us to locate it;
3. a description of why the Complaining User considers the content to be unacceptable; and
4. a statement that the complaint is accurate, and that the Complaining User accepts that fraudulent or nuisance complaints may result in revocation of the Complaining User’s entitlement to access WP Multisite.

To aid in investigating any complaint, We ask that the Complaining Users provides as much of the information requested above as possible to avoid any delay in receiving our response. Notwithstanding We will use reasonable endeavours to investigate each complaint in the same way, whether or not it contains all of this information.

Receipt of Complaints and Record Keeping

We choose to maintain records of complaints received by us. Please note our properly maintained records of each stage of the Notice and Takedown process may include personal information. If this is the case We will only use your personal information as set out in our WP Multisite Privacy Policy.
We have a comprehensive complaints procedure which includes both informal and formal options which students can use to resolve complaints. Full details of the complaints process can be found at General Regulations Appendix 10.

Legal considerations in assessment or non-removal of complained-about content

As a general rule We will avoid making any assessments of the acceptability on our part of complained-about content.
The responsible academic faculties (e.g. schools or course team) will be consulted prior to any action in the case of content posted for assessment.
If there is any uncertainty as to whether to remove content then the default position is that We may remove access to the content first, and carry out a subsequent review thereafter.
Any interim or final decision by us to retain or amend rather than remove the content in question will balancewith other risks involved.

Clearly acceptable content

We may deem it necessary to carry out an element of assessment of the content, for example to ensure the complaint is not fraudulent or vexatious. If it is, or the complained-about content is clearly acceptable and not in any way likely to be defamatory of or offensive to any users or third parties, We may decide to leave the content in place.Our decision to allow the content to remain in place will be based on a fair and impartial evaluation of all of the evidence available. If the outcome of our decision is to allow the content to remain
The Complaining User will be notified accordingly. Any further representations which the Complaining User makes must be taken into account, and the decision reviewed again.

Interim suspension of the content

We will otherwise temporarily remove the complained-about content immediately.
The Complaining User, the Posting User and the Administrator(s) of the blog will be notified of the removal of the content unless there is a valid reason not to do so (e.g. to preserve legal rights, or meet legal obligations), and if relevant notified of any lag-time which will apply before the changes are reflected on the WP Multisite Network.
If the content appeared in a chain of correspondence on the WP Multisite Networkthen it should be considered what affect the unacceptable content had on the rest of the chain, and what affect its removal may have. It may be necessary to remove the entire chain or, alternatively, to replace the content with a notice stating that content has been removed, and that its removal may affect the sense or content of the remainder of the chain.
The Posting User may make a case for reinstating either the original complained-about content or an amended version to us within 20 working days of being notified of the removal.

Final Outcome

If, following discussions with the Posting User and the Complaining User, senior colleagues and/or the University’s legal advisor, who respectively consider that it is appropriate to replace any content in full or as amended they may do so in their entire discretion.
Otherwise, or if there is no response from the Posting User within 20 working days, the complained-about content will be removed permanently.
The Complaining User, the Posting User and the Administrator(s) of the blog will be notified of the final outcome unless there is a valid reason not to do so.