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Payment restrictions
Acquirers report qualifying terminations; authorized users must inquire. Mastercard permits admission of a listed merchant, while Stripe publishes a more restrictive practice with exceptions. Correction is a distinct route.
Solid lines: documented in a cited record. Dashed: reported or inferred. Hollow arrows: proposed powers. Choose a connection for its evidence.
August 2026 public network rules are not backdated to earlier disputes. Inquiry, response, early removal and five-year purge have different clocks. No automatic admission or restoration is shown.
Mastercard → requires investigation and reporting → Mastercard acquirers · rule scope
Policy requires acquirer investigation/reporting within2businessdays for law-enforcement evidence or5 for qualifying private referrals, with discretionary extensions. WIPO is not classified as law enforcement here; clocks are not added to WIPO notice periods.
Mastercard acquirers · rule scope → must end acceptance for affirmatively infringing products → Merchants and owners — MATCH rule scope
An affirmative policy finding requires ending Mastercard acceptance for the infringing product; negative findings require compelling evidence. Product cessation is not automatically full merchant termination.
Mastercard acquirers · rule scope → must report applicable merchant termination → Mastercard MATCH Pro
Anti-Piracy Policy conditionally requires MATCH notice if the acquirer terminates the merchant; no particular WIPO/Creative merchant report is established.
Mastercard → retains policy interpretation and membership sanctions → Mastercard acquirers · rule scope
Mastercard reserves interpretation/enforcement and possible membership restriction or sanctions for noncompliance. No exercised sanction in this packet.
Mastercard acquirers · rule scope → approve service-provider access within registration rules → MATCH authorized acquirers and service providers
Chapter11 requires relevant service-provider registration/provisioning and acquirer approval. No authorization was exercised by this inquiry.
Mastercard acquirers · rule scope → must report under qualifying termination triggers → Mastercard MATCH Pro
Section11.5 combines termination by merchant/acquirer with reason to believe a listed condition exists. Five calendar days runs from earlier listed decision/notice/awareness events, not effective termination; awareness is not detached from the opening condition.
MATCH authorized acquirers and service providers → must inquire before agreement or acceptance → Mastercard MATCH Pro
Section11.6 requires inquiry before signing/enabling acceptance. Exact/phonetic or spelling hits are possible identity matches requiring relevance checks, not proof of misconduct.
Mastercard acquirers · rule scope → may admit a listed merchant → Merchants and owners — MATCH rule scope
Sections11.2/11.6.4 expressly allow onboarding notwithstanding a MATCH entry; mandatory inquiry does not require refusal. Each institution makes its own decision.
Mastercard acquirers · rule scope → retain accuracy and reasonable-correction responsibility → Mastercard MATCH Pro
Acquirers retain accuracy responsibility when delegating work; good faith, reason-code grounds and reasonable correction are required. Removal requests require a30calendar-day response, listing questions7; neither clock guarantees removal.
Mastercard MATCH Pro → provides retroactive alerts after inquiries → MATCH authorized acquirers and service providers
Section11.6.4 describes alerts for later added information within365days after an inquiry, visible30days and once in batch results. Recipient next steps remain separate; no closure cascade observed.
Mastercard → provides five-year listing purge → Mastercard MATCH Pro
Section11.10 provides5year listing retention/purge; recipient records persist at least2years after agreement end and inquiry records365days. Central purge does not erase all downstream records or restore processing.
Mastercard → permits early removal on specified grounds → Mastercard MATCH Pro
Section11.13 permits removal for erroneous addition reported by an authorized user or specified cured PCI code12 noncompliance. Merchant direct application when acquirer unwilling/unable is narrow PCI route, not general bypass.