This policy explains how copyright applies to content on UnboundedFigures, with particular attention to the nature of mathematical expression and the role of AI-generated content.
Your Content, Your Copyright
You retain full copyright ownership of the original expression in any content you submit to the Platform. Posting to UnboundedFigures does not transfer your intellectual property rights to us.
You grant UnboundedFigures the limited license described in Section 2 to operate the Platform. Beyond that license, we make no claim on your work.
License to UnboundedFigures
By posting content to the Platform, you grant UnboundedFigures a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, sublicensable license to host, reproduce, display, distribute, and promote your content as part of operating and improving the Platform.
This license is necessary for the Platform to function — for example, to display your sketch to other users, to send email notifications containing excerpts, or to surface your work in search results.
This license terminates when you delete your content or close your account, except where your content has been incorporated into collaborative works (such as a project paper co-authored with other contributors) in ways that make separation impractical.
Mathematical Ideas vs. Expression
Copyright law does not protect mathematical ideas, theorems, methods, or proofs as abstract concepts. Only the specific written expression of those ideas is protected.
This has important implications for how the platform works:
Bridges and formalizations
When a Rigorist writes a formal proof or counterexample in response to your sketch, they are engaging with your mathematical idea — not reproducing your protected expression. The Rigorist owns the copyright in their formal response; you own the copyright in your original sketch. Both contributions are recorded and credited.
Collaborative projects
In a Project Lab document, each contributor retains copyright in their individual contributions. The project as a whole represents a jointly-authored work, and all contributors are credited in the project history.
Prior art and known results
If a bridge response points to existing literature where the same result is known, the bridge author should cite the original source. Reproducing substantial portions of copyrighted papers requires appropriate attribution and falls under fair use principles.
AI-Generated Content
Under current United States copyright law, content generated purely by AI without sufficient human creative authorship may not be eligible for copyright protection. If you substantially relied on AI to generate mathematical content you have posted, be aware of this limitation.
You remain responsible for ensuring that any AI-generated content you post does not reproduce copyrighted material from the AI’s training data. You must also comply with our disclosure requirements for AI-assisted mathematical content as described in our Community Guidelines.
You may not falsely claim copyright in AI-generated content that you did not creatively author. Doing so constitutes misrepresentation under the DMCA and violates our Terms of Service.
DMCA Takedown Process
UnboundedFigures respects intellectual property rights and will respond to valid takedown notices submitted under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512).
To submit a DMCA takedown notice, send a written notice to tsamuels456@gmail.com with the subject line “DMCA Notice” including all of the following:
- Your full legal name and contact information (email, address, phone number)
- A description of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed
- The specific URL(s) on UnboundedFigures where the infringing content appears
- A statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law
- A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on their behalf
- Your electronic or physical signature
Incomplete notices may not be acted upon. We will review valid notices promptly and take appropriate action, which may include removing the content and notifying the user who posted it.
Counter-Notices
If your content was removed in response to a DMCA notice and you believe the removal was a mistake or misidentification, you may submit a counter-notice to tsamuels456@gmail.com with the subject line “DMCA Counter-Notice” including:
- Your full legal name and contact information
- Identification of the content that was removed and its location before removal
- A statement, under penalty of perjury, that you have a good-faith belief the content was removed by mistake or misidentification
- Your consent to the jurisdiction of a US Federal Court in the district where you reside (or any district if outside the US), and agreement to accept service of process from the original complainant
- Your electronic or physical signature
If we receive a valid counter-notice, we may restore the removed content after 10–14 business days unless the original complainant provides notice of a court action.
Repeat Infringers
UnboundedFigures will terminate the accounts of users who are found to be repeat copyright infringers in appropriate circumstances. We take repeat infringement seriously and reserve the right to act on patterns of infringing behavior even outside of formal DMCA processes.