Community Contribution & Copyright Policy

Effective Date: July 21, 2026

Policy at a Glance

1. Scope and Relationship to Other Terms

This Community Contribution & Copyright Policy (the “Policy”) governs information, media and other material submitted to The Vertibase by users, contributors, rights holders, representatives and other third parties. It applies to edits, corrections, page-creation requests, ratings, reviews, comments, biographies, credits, metadata, links, images, artwork and any other content submitted through The Vertibase, its forms, email channels, moderation tools, application programming interfaces or related services (collectively, “Contributions”).

This Policy supplements The Vertibase Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and any community guidelines, image rules, moderation standards or feature-specific terms. If there is a conflict, the Terms of Service control unless this Policy expressly states otherwise. Capitalized terms not defined here have the meanings assigned in the Terms of Service.

By submitting a Contribution, you agree to this Policy. If you submit on behalf of another person, company, studio, production, agency, guild, distributor or rights holder, you represent that you have authority to bind that party to the applicable provisions of this Policy.

2. Purpose of Community Contributions

The Vertibase is intended to be a useful, evolving database about microdramas, vertical series, performers, creators, companies and related entertainment information. Community participation helps identify omissions, correct errors, add context and keep pages current. Contributions are suggestions for editorial consideration; they are not self-executing instructions to The Vertibase.

The Vertibase may review Contributions through employees, contractors, moderators, trusted contributors, automated systems or a combination of these methods. Review may consider reliability, sourcing, consistency, relevance, legal risk, formatting, duplication and editorial judgment. A Contribution may be accepted in whole or in part, rewritten, normalized, merged with other information, delayed, rejected or later removed.

3. Who May Contribute

You must have a valid account and satisfy the eligibility requirements in the Terms of Service unless The Vertibase authorizes another submission method. The Vertibase may create contributor levels, reputation scores, verification programs, moderation roles or other access tiers. Eligibility for a feature or contributor status does not create a contractual right to retain that status.

You may not contribute through an account created with false information, through an account you are not authorized to use, or while evading a suspension, block or other enforcement measure. The Vertibase may require identity, authority or rights verification before accepting certain Contributions, including official profile claims, image uploads, takedown requests or sensitive biographical changes.

4. Types of Contributions

Subject to available features and editorial standards, Contributions may include:

• New title, series, episode, season, company, person or character records;
• Corrections to names, credits, dates, roles, production details, availability, links and other metadata;
• Biographies, summaries, descriptions, genres, tags, trivia, awards and other editorial text;
• User ratings, reviews, lists, reactions, follows, favorites or similar community activity;
• Images, posters, key art, headshots, production stills, promotional materials, logos and thumbnails;
• Source links, citations, supporting documentation and explanations for proposed changes;
• Rights, privacy, impersonation or accuracy complaints; and
• Other material made available for submission through the Service.

The Vertibase may restrict categories, formats, file sizes, file types, geographic coverage or submission volume at any time. It may also require additional attestations for high-risk categories such as images, sensitive personal information, minors, disputed credits or allegations of misconduct.

5. Accuracy, Verification and Supporting Sources

You are responsible for taking reasonable steps to ensure that each Contribution is accurate, current, complete and not misleading. Do not submit rumors, speculation, fabricated credits, promotional claims presented as fact, manipulated evidence, or information you know or reasonably should know is false.

Where a submission tool requests a source, provide a reliable source that directly supports the proposed change. Appropriate sources may include official production credits, distributor pages, press releases, professional representation pages, direct statements from authorized representatives, reputable publications or other materials that The Vertibase considers sufficiently reliable. Social-media posts, fan pages, editable databases and unattributed reposts may be insufficient depending on the claim.

The Vertibase may request documentation or clarification and may decline to disclose its internal verification criteria. Acceptance does not mean The Vertibase has independently verified every fact, and rejection does not necessarily mean a Contribution is false.

6. Neutrality, Conflicts of Interest and Promotional Editing

Contributors should present information neutrally and avoid language that reads like advertising, reputation management, campaign messaging or personal advocacy. If you have a material connection to the subject of a Contribution, including as the subject, a family member, representative, employer, producer, studio, agency, publicist, distributor, investor or paid editor, you must disclose that connection clearly and conspicuously in the Contribution itself, and you must disclose it again whenever the submission process or a moderator asks. This requirement applies whether or not you were paid, and it applies to participants in our ambassador, affiliate, contributor, and promoted-content programs. Federal Trade Commission rules require disclosure of material connections in endorsements and reviews, and those rules apply to you independently of this Policy.

The Vertibase may apply heightened review to conflicted submissions. It may remove superlatives, unsupported claims, calls to action, contact information, pricing, promotional links, awards claims, audience metrics or other material that is not appropriate for an editorial database.

7. Public Nature of Contributions and Revision History

Accepted Contributions may be displayed publicly and may be associated with your username, contributor profile, contribution date, edit summary, moderation status or other attribution selected by The Vertibase. The Service may preserve and display revision histories so that pages can be audited, restored, compared, moderated and improved.

Do not include private information in a Contribution or edit summary. Even if content is later removed from the current version of a page, it may remain in internal logs, moderation records, backups or restricted revision archives as described in the Privacy Policy. The Vertibase may suppress attribution or revision content when reasonably necessary for privacy, safety, legal compliance or platform integrity.

8. Ownership of Contributions

As between you and The Vertibase, you retain any copyright or other ownership rights you hold in original expression that you create and submit. You do not acquire ownership of a Vertibase page, record, taxonomy, compilation, database structure, design, moderation decision or any other material owned by The Vertibase or another party merely because you contribute to it.

Facts, ideas, titles, names, dates, credits and other uncopyrightable elements may not be owned by either party as a matter of copyright law. Nothing in this Policy is intended to expand or limit rights that exist independently under applicable law.

9. License You Grant to The Vertibase

By submitting a Contribution, you grant The Vertibase and its affiliates, successors, service providers and authorized partners a nonexclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, fully paid, transferable and sublicensable license to use, host, store, reproduce, copy, modify, edit, adapt, translate, excerpt, annotate, combine, format, reformat, crop, resize, compress, transcode, create derivative works from, publish, publicly display, publicly perform, distribute, transmit, syndicate, index, cache, archive, preserve, promote and otherwise exploit that Contribution, in whole or in part, in any media or technology now known or later developed, for purposes connected with the Service, The Vertibase’s business, editorial products, data products, marketing, communications and platform improvement.

This license expressly includes the right to use Contributions to develop, train, fine-tune, evaluate, benchmark, ground, validate and improve artificial-intelligence, machine-learning, statistical, recommendation, classification, search and analytics systems and models, whether developed by The Vertibase or by service providers acting on its behalf; to generate embeddings, vector representations, indexes, aggregations and derived datasets; and to produce and distribute aggregated, de-identified, statistical and derived outputs, including outputs made available to third parties on a commercial basis. Outputs generated from Contributions are not Contributions and are owned by The Vertibase. This grant runs to The Vertibase only. Section 14.4 of the Terms of Service continues to prohibit third parties from using the Service or its content for artificial-intelligence or machine-learning purposes without prior written permission. These rights apply to Contributions submitted on or after the effective date of this Policy, and to earlier Contributions submitted by contributors who accept this Policy after that date.

This license includes the right to:

• Incorporate Contributions into pages, databases, feeds, APIs, search indexes, recommendations, newsletters, social posts, marketing materials and derivative editorial products;
• Edit Contributions for accuracy, clarity, length, style, accessibility, moderation, localization, technical compatibility or legal compliance;
• Retain Contributions and revision history after account deletion, suspension or termination when reasonably necessary to preserve database integrity, attribution, moderation records, legal rights or operational continuity;
• Authorize hosting providers, content-delivery networks, search providers, analytics vendors, contractors, licensees and distribution partners to process or display Contributions on The Vertibase’s behalf; and
• Use your submitted username, contributor name, avatar or other approved attribution in connection with the Contribution, subject to the Privacy Policy.

The license continues even if the Contribution is not accepted, is later removed from public display, or your account is deleted, but The Vertibase will use nonpublic rejected Contributions only for legitimate operational, legal, security, moderation and product-improvement purposes unless another use is disclosed.

To the extent permitted by law, you waive and agree not to assert moral rights, rights of integrity, rights of attribution or similar rights that would prevent The Vertibase from exercising the license granted above. Where waiver is not permitted, you agree not to enforce those rights against The Vertibase or its authorized users to the extent necessary to operate the Service.

10. Your Representations and Warranties

Each time you submit a Contribution, you represent and warrant that:

• You are at least 16 years old, or older if a higher minimum age applies where you live, and have legal capacity to make the submission;
• You created the Contribution, own it, or have all permissions, licenses, releases and authority necessary to submit it and grant the rights in this Policy;
• The Contribution and The Vertibase’s permitted use of it do not infringe or misappropriate copyright, trademark, trade dress, patent, database rights, publicity rights, privacy rights, moral rights, contractual rights, confidentiality obligations or any other rights;
• Any person depicted or identified has provided any consent required by law for the intended submission and use, including where the image or information was not created for public promotional use;
• The Contribution is accurate to the best of your knowledge and is not fraudulent, deceptive, defamatory, unlawfully threatening or materially misleading;
• The Contribution does not contain malware, tracking code, hidden advertising, unauthorized personal data or content prohibited by this Policy;
• You have disclosed material conflicts of interest when requested; and
• If you submit for an organization or another person, you are authorized to act for that party.

These representations and warranties survive deletion of the Contribution, deletion of your account and termination of your use of the Service.

11. Text, Biographies, Credits and Metadata

Textual Contributions must be original, properly licensed, or limited to facts and brief quotations used lawfully. Do not copy biographies, synopses, reviews, interviews, press articles, database entries or marketing copy from IMDb, Wikipedia, studio sites, publications or other sources merely because the material is publicly accessible. Public availability does not mean content is free to reproduce.

Credits and metadata should reflect the work as released or otherwise reliably documented. Do not inflate roles, merge distinct people, create false alternate names, misstate episode participation, or use credits as promotional placement. The Vertibase may normalize naming conventions, role categories, capitalization, dates, territories and title formats for consistency.

When quoting or closely paraphrasing a source, provide attribution where required and keep the use appropriately limited. The Vertibase may reject content that creates unnecessary copyright risk even when a contributor believes the use may be lawful.

12. Images, Posters, Cover Art and Promotional Media

Images create heightened copyright, trademark, privacy and publicity risks. You may upload an image only if you own the applicable rights or have authorization broad enough to permit The Vertibase’s uses under this Policy. Possessing a file, finding it online, receiving it in a group chat, taking a screenshot, or seeing it on a social-media account does not establish that you have the right to upload it.

Permitted image categories may include authorized headshots, production stills, episodic stills, key art, posters, title cards, logos, behind-the-scenes images and promotional photographs. The Vertibase may establish different requirements for each category and may require proof of ownership, source, authorization, photographer credit, usage restrictions, release status or representative authority.

Unless The Vertibase expressly approves otherwise, do not upload:

• Images copied from another entertainment database, publication, stock-photo service, social platform or website without permission;
• Watermarked images, contact sheets, screenshots of webpages, scans of magazines or book pages, or material with third-party licensing restrictions;
• Private, leaked, hacked, stolen, confidential, intimate or unlawfully obtained images;
• Images that disclose personal contact details, financial information, identification numbers, exact home addresses or other sensitive information;
• Misleading composites, face swaps, synthetic depictions, materially altered images or AI-generated likenesses that are not clearly authorized and appropriately identified;
• Images that exploit or sexualize minors, depict unlawful conduct, contain hate symbols outside legitimate editorial context, or otherwise violate community standards; or
• Images used primarily as advertising, solicitation, merchandise promotion or unrelated branding.

By uploading media, you authorize The Vertibase to crop, resize, compress, transcode, create thumbnails, add accessibility descriptions, place the media in layouts, distribute it through content-delivery networks, associate it with people or titles, and use it in promotional materials for the Service. The Vertibase may choose placement, sequence, cropping and display duration, and may remove or replace media at any time.

The Vertibase does not guarantee photographer credits, copyright notices, watermarks or metadata will remain visible. If maintaining a specific credit or notice is a condition of your license, do not upload the media unless The Vertibase has agreed in writing to that condition.

13. Publicity, Privacy and Likeness Rights

Copyright ownership alone may not be sufficient to authorize publication of a person’s name, image, voice, likeness or personal information. You are responsible for obtaining any model release, performer consent, representative authorization or other permission required by applicable publicity, privacy or related law.

Images created for official publicity or distributed by an authorized representative may be treated differently from private photographs. The Vertibase may remove or restrict content in response to a credible request from a depicted person, parent or guardian, authorized representative, estate, employer or rights holder, even if the content does not clearly infringe copyright.

Do not submit sensitive personal information, unverified allegations, medical information, precise home locations, nonpublic family details or information that could create a meaningful risk of harassment, stalking, fraud or physical harm. The Vertibase may redact, suppress or reject such material regardless of whether it is available elsewhere.

14. Minors

Contributions involving minors require particular care. Do not submit private photographs or personal information about a minor unless you are the parent or legal guardian, have verifiable authorization from the parent or guardian, or the material is an official production or publicity asset that may lawfully be used for the intended purpose.

The Vertibase may impose stricter rules for minors, including limits on biographical details, contact information, school information, exact birth dates, family details, private social accounts and nonpublic images. It may remove content whenever it believes removal is appropriate to protect a minor, even if a contributor believes publication is lawful.

15. AI-Assisted and Synthetic Contributions

If you use generative AI or another automated system to draft, translate, summarize, enhance or create a Contribution, you remain fully responsible for the result. You must review the output for accuracy, infringement, fabricated claims, bias, privacy concerns and misleading synthetic content before submission.

You may not submit an AI-generated or materially synthetic image of a real person unless you have all necessary rights and the submission is clearly identified in the manner The Vertibase requires. You may not use AI to fabricate credits, quotes, endorsements, reviews, evidence, source documents or biographical events.

The Vertibase may label, restrict or remove AI-assisted content and may require disclosure of the tools or processes used. It does not guarantee that automated moderation, plagiarism detection, image analysis or other review systems will identify every issue.

16. Prohibited Contributions and Conduct

You may not submit, coordinate, solicit or assist with Contributions that:

• Violate law, court order, contractual restriction or another person’s rights;
• Are false, defamatory, fraudulent, impersonating, harassing, hateful, threatening, exploitative or intentionally misleading;
• Contain malware, malicious links, credential-harvesting mechanisms or code designed to interfere with the Service;
• Include unauthorized advertising, affiliate links, spam, paid placement, review manipulation or coordinated rating abuse;
• Reveal personal or confidential information without a legitimate basis and required permission;
• Attempt to erase accurate history, manufacture notability, conceal a conflict of interest, manipulate search visibility or retaliate against another contributor;
• Are submitted through bots, scripts, scraping tools, bulk accounts or unauthorized automated systems;
• Circumvent blocks, rate limits, moderation queues, technical protections or contributor restrictions; or
• Otherwise undermine the safety, reliability, neutrality or integrity of The Vertibase.

17. Editorial Review, Moderation and Enforcement

The Vertibase has no obligation to publish, maintain or explain a decision concerning any Contribution. It may use manual review, automated tools, trusted-contributor workflows, sampling, post-publication review or other methods. Moderation is imperfect, and publication does not constitute endorsement, verification or an admission that the Contribution is lawful.

The Vertibase may, with or without notice:

• Reject, edit, rewrite, reclassify, merge, relocate, de-index, blur, crop, restrict, disable or remove Contributions;
• Restore prior versions or reverse edits;
• Limit submission volume, place Contributions into review, require supporting evidence or temporarily lock pages;
• Remove contributor privileges, reputation points, badges, verification or moderator status;
• Suspend or terminate accounts and block related accounts or technical identifiers;
• Preserve records and disclose information when required by law or reasonably necessary to investigate abuse, enforce rights or protect users; and
• Refer suspected unlawful conduct to rights holders, service providers or authorities.

The Vertibase may consider patterns of conduct, related accounts and off-platform evidence relevant to abuse of the Service. Enforcement decisions may be final, and any appeal process is discretionary unless required by law.

18. Corrections, Disputes and Competing Claims

A disagreement about a credit, biography, title, image, date or other fact does not automatically establish a legal violation. Whenever practical, submit a correction through the ordinary editing process with reliable supporting evidence. The Vertibase may maintain disputed information, add context, remove information temporarily, or decline to resolve a private contractual or professional dispute.

Where multiple parties present credible but conflicting evidence, The Vertibase may choose the version it considers best supported, describe the dispute neutrally, postpone publication, or remove the disputed material. The Vertibase is not an arbitrator for guild, employment, billing, ownership, representation or credit disputes.

19. Copyright Complaints and DMCA Process

The Vertibase respects copyright and intends to respond to legally sufficient notices of claimed infringement. Copyright complaints should be submitted to the designated copyright agent identified below and should include the information required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3), including identification of the copyrighted work, identification and location of the allegedly infringing material, the complainant’s contact information, a good-faith statement, a statement under penalty of perjury regarding accuracy and authority, and a physical or electronic signature.

DMCA Agent
Vertical Romance, ATTN: The Vertibase
40 E. Verdugo Ave. #128
Burbank, CA 91502, USA
Telephone: (914) 525-5345
Email: dmca@thevertibase.com

Notices of claimed infringement must be sent to the designated agent above. Notices sent to any other address or mailbox may not be treated as received.

The Vertibase may forward a notice to the affected contributor and may remove or disable access to material while evaluating the notice. A contributor whose material is removed may submit a legally compliant counter-notification containing the information required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(g). The Vertibase will provide the complainant with a copy of the counter-notification and will restore the removed material not less than 10 and not more than 14 business days after receiving a legally compliant counter-notification, unless the complainant first notifies The Vertibase that it has filed an action seeking a court order to restrain the contributor from engaging in infringing activity relating to the material.

Knowingly misrepresenting that material is infringing or was removed by mistake may create liability under applicable law. The Vertibase may reject incomplete notices, request clarification, or respond through counsel.

20. Repeat Infringer Policy

The Vertibase has adopted and reasonably implements a policy providing for the termination, in appropriate circumstances, of accounts of users who are repeat infringers. The Vertibase will terminate such accounts in appropriate circumstances, and may also terminate or restrict accounts of users who repeatedly submit material that generates credible rights complaints. The Vertibase maintains internal records of notices received, the accounts associated with them, and the action taken. In determining whether circumstances are appropriate, The Vertibase may consider the number, timing, severity and apparent validity of notices; counter-notifications; court orders; contributor conduct; and attempts to evade enforcement.

The Vertibase may also remove contributor privileges before terminating an account and may apply measures to related accounts. This policy does not require The Vertibase to ignore evidence that a notice is fraudulent, abusive, mistaken or legally insufficient.

21. Publicity, Privacy, Impersonation and Image-Removal Requests

Requests that do not primarily concern copyright may be submitted through the designated rights-and-safety channel: legal@thevertibase.com. The request should identify the material, provide the exact page or image location, explain the legal or safety basis for removal, identify the requester’s relationship to the subject and include documentation reasonably sufficient to verify identity and authority.

The Vertibase may consider requests involving:

• Unauthorized use of a person’s name, image, voice or likeness;
• Private or sensitive personal information;
• Impersonation or falsely claimed official representation;
• Incorrect tagging or association of an image with a person or title;
• Images involving minors or meaningful safety concerns;
• Deceased-person or estate concerns where recognized by applicable law; and
• Other content that creates a credible legal, privacy or safety risk.

A removal request is not guaranteed to result in removal. The Vertibase may correct attribution, crop an image, restrict visibility, request additional documentation, preserve a nonpublic copy, or determine that the content should remain based on consent, newsworthiness, public availability, editorial context, applicable law or other considerations.

22. Counterfeit Notices, Abuse of Process and Fraud

You may not submit a rights complaint, identity claim, authorization letter, release, source document or supporting statement that is forged, materially misleading or submitted in bad faith. The Vertibase may reject abusive requests, preserve evidence, notify affected parties, suspend accounts and refer suspected fraud to counsel or authorities.

Rights-reporting processes may not be used to suppress accurate criticism, remove inconvenient facts, interfere with a competitor, retaliate against a contributor, or obtain confidential information about another user.

23. Account Deletion and Continuing Treatment of Contributions

Deleting your account ends your ability to access account features but does not automatically remove Contributions already incorporated into The Vertibase. To preserve page continuity, revision history, moderation integrity and the reliability of the database, The Vertibase may retain and continue using accepted Contributions under the license granted in this Policy.

The Vertibase may remove or anonymize the public association between your account and Contributions when appropriate, but it may retain internal identifiers, timestamps, moderation records, rights documentation, security logs, legal records and backups. Requests to remove personal data are governed by the Privacy Policy and applicable law; requests to remove copyrighted or rights-sensitive content are governed by the applicable complaint process.

24. No Compensation, Confidentiality or Publication Commitment

Unless The Vertibase agrees otherwise in a signed writing, Contributions are voluntary and unpaid. You are not entitled to royalties, fees, credits, approval rights, accounting, notice of use or other compensation.

Do not submit trade secrets, confidential screeners, unreleased scripts, private contracts, embargoed materials or other information subject to confidentiality restrictions. The Vertibase does not agree to keep unsolicited Contributions confidential and is not required to publish or return submitted material.

25. Indemnification

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless The Vertibase, its affiliates, owners, officers, directors, employees, contractors, moderators, service providers, successors and assigns from and against claims, demands, actions, damages, judgments, settlements, penalties, liabilities, losses, costs and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising out of or relating to: (a) your Contributions; (b) your breach of this Policy or the Terms of Service; (c) your infringement or violation of another person’s rights; (d) your failure to obtain a required license, consent, release or authorization; (e) your fraud, negligence, willful misconduct or unlawful activity; or (f) a dispute between you and another person or entity concerning a Contribution.

The Vertibase may participate in the defense and settlement of an indemnified matter, and you agree to cooperate reasonably. You may not settle a claim in a manner that admits fault by, imposes obligations on, or restricts The Vertibase without its written consent. The Vertibase will give you prompt written notice of any claim for which it seeks indemnification and will not settle any such claim in a manner that imposes liability on you or admits fault on your part without your consent, which will not be unreasonably withheld. You may participate in the defense at your own expense. This Section does not apply to any claim to the extent it arises from The Vertibase’s own negligence, willful misconduct or breach of this Policy. If you submit Contributions on behalf of an organization, or if you hold a verified or representative account, additional indemnification obligations, including a duty to defend, may apply under a separate written agreement.

26. Changes to This Policy

The Vertibase may revise this Policy as the Service, law and community practices evolve. Material changes will be posted or otherwise communicated as required by law. The “Last updated” date identifies the most recent revision. Continued submission of Contributions after the effective date of a revised Policy constitutes acceptance to the extent permitted by law.

27. Contact

General contribution questions: support@thevertibase.com
Copyright and DMCA notices: dmca@thevertibase.com
Publicity, privacy and impersonation requests: legal@thevertibase.com
Privacy requests and personal data: privacy@thevertibase.com
Security reports: security@thevertibase.com
Mailing address: Vertical Romance, ATTN: The Vertibase, 40 E. Verdugo Ave. #128, Burbank, CA 91502, USA