Community exchange

Public discussions

Read testimony, questions and responses already published in the Atlantic exchange space.

Publication rules

Speak freely. Stay factual. Respect people.

Positive, neutral and critical testimony are welcome. A message is not refused merely because it criticizes Atlantic. Publication depends on relevance to the case experience, factual presentation, privacy and respectful language.

Freedom to speak

Describe what you personally experienced, including dissatisfaction, delays, disagreement or positive feedback. Clearly separate what you observed from your opinion, interpretation or question.

What will not be published

Defamatory, knowingly false, fabricated or materially misleading statements, or unsupported accusations presented as established fact.
Harassment, threats, intimidation, insults, incitement to violence or targeted abuse.
Racist, xenophobic, antisemitic, anti-Muslim, homophobic, transphobic, sexist or other hateful or discriminatory content.
Off-topic political or religious advocacy, attacks on beliefs or identity, spam, advertising, impersonation or content unrelated to the case experience.
Case-access codes, passwords, confidential documents, unnecessary personal data or private information about third parties.

Keep it tied to the case

Use dates, letters, actions and outcomes that relate to your case. When something is an interpretation, say “I believe”, “in my experience” or “I understood”. Avoid legal conclusions unless they are documented in the materials you actually received.

Editorial separation from case handling

The Exchange Space is a separate editorial channel from the case-handling workflow. A publication decision does not decide, change, validate or prejudge the legal or financial outcome of a case. Approval of a testimony also does not mean that Atlantic confirms every factual statement made by its author.

Tips for a testimony that is easier to publish

Use a short, descriptive title and write in the first person.
Present events in chronological order and include useful dates when known.
Separate verified facts from assumptions, feelings and questions.
Remove access codes, passwords, confidential attachments and unnecessary personal information.
Focus each testimony on one case experience and, where possible, end with the clarification or response you are seeking.

Moderation concerns publication suitability, not whether a testimony is favorable to Atlantic. Critical content can be published when it complies with these rules.

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1Latest approved discussions

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Experience and open testimony EN · English

survey

AID-COM-2026-000004

Discussion author Marty L. 2026-10-15 1 approved reply

I was caught off guard when I received your emails. The young man that designed our site has evidently gone out of business so I had no idea he used proprietary images for the site.

the emails were also coming out of the blue without warning so it was initially met with skepticism.

as a small business, it is difficult to keep up with the various rules and regulations for something I'm not an expert in.

Published responses

Atlantic administrator Atlantic response In reply to Marty L.

2026-10-15

Thank you for your honesty. Receiving a notice like ours about a website someone else built for you is never easy, and your first reaction was completely natural. Thank you for the time you took to look into it with us. We wish you and your business all the best.

Reply to this discussion

Are you a photographer, an authors’ representative or an image distribution platform? Copyright in a photograph arises when it is created and belongs to its author from the outset, with no formalities. Registration is not a condition of protection: in the United States (17 U.S.C. §§ 102(a), 201(a) and 408(a)); in the more than 180 states party to the Berne Convention, across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania (Art. 5(2)); in the member countries of the World Trade Organization, which must apply these rules under the TRIPS Agreement (Art. 9(1)), or in those that have joined the WIPO Copyright Treaty (Art. 3).

Registration with the U.S. Copyright Office becomes useful, or even necessary, in specific cases: for a U.S. work, it is required before any action in federal court (§ 411(a)); a registration application is required to bring a claim before the Copyright Claims Board (§ 1505); made before the infringement or within three months of publication, it makes statutory damages and attorney’s fees available (§ 412); made within five years of publication, it creates a presumption that the copyright is valid (§ 410(c)).

ATLANTIC IMAGE DEFENSE can be mandated for either service, each handled separately: defending your photographs, which always begins with an amicable approach to the user; registering your works, carried out directly with the U.S. Copyright Office under a mandate signed beforehand, within that office’s own timeframes. ATLANTIC IMAGE DEFENSE is not affiliated with the Copyright Office or the CCB. Register a work with the U.S. Copyright Office