Terms of Service/

Introduction

1. These Terms of Service (hereafter referred to as the 'Terms') constitute a legally binding agreement between you (hereafter referred to as the 'User') and Longbeard Creative Inc. (hereafter referred to as the 'Company'), governing access to and use of Vulgate AI (hereafter referred to as the 'Platform'). By accessing or utilizing the Platform, the User acknowledges acceptance of these Terms. If the User does not agree to these Terms, they must refrain from accessing or using the Platform.
2. By accessing or using Vulgate AI, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. Vulgate AI is currently in beta, meaning that functionality may change over time and some features may contain bugs or other unexpected behaviors. We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time, with reasonable notice provided to users.
3. User Categories:
   • Individual User: A person who accesses the platform for personal or professional use.
   • Organization Owner: An entity or individual (such as a company, academic institution, or non-profit) that registers an account and manages multiple users.
   • Organization Admin: A user with administrative access, responsible for system integration, document upload and management, and may manage users or permissions.

Purpose & Scope

1. The Platform is designed to provide advanced AI-powered tools for academic research, document management, and resource digitization. The User may leverage the Platform's capabilities to:
   • Digitize and vectorize physical and digital holdings for structured data storage.
   • Conduct neural and keyword-based searches for efficient document retrieval.
   • Utilize AI-assisted document ingestion for streamlined data integration.
   • Apply machine translation tools for multilingual accessibility.
   • Engage in chat conversations with our integrated AI model for academic and organizational use.
2. The User is granted access to the Platform solely for internal operations, including but not limited to:
   • Managing and organizing institutional or organizational archives.
   • Enhancing research workflows through AI-driven analysis and categorization.
   • Facilitating knowledge-sharing within academic, corporate, and non-profit environments.
3. The User shall not use the Platform for:
   • Commercial resale or redistribution of AI-generated outputs without explicit authorization.
   • Engaging in automated data scraping, reverse-engineering, or unauthorized access to the Platform's proprietary systems.

Account Registration

1. The User shall provide accurate, current, and complete information during registration and is solely responsible for maintaining account security and confidentiality.
2. Unauthorized access, account credential sharing, and circumvention of authentication mechanisms are strictly prohibited.
3. User Permissions:
   • Individual Users must provide accurate information and are responsible for securing their own accounts.
   • Organization Accounts: All new users, by default, have their own personal organization created upon account signup, which they can invite others to. Users can create additional organizations, or join another organization account upon invite. Organization accounts may have multiple users with different levels of access. The organization is responsible for ensuring compliance with these Terms by all affiliated users.
   • Organization Admins: Organizations owners may designate administrative users who can manage account settings, data access, and security controls for other members.

Data Usage & Privacy

1. The Company shall not share, disclose, or otherwise transfer User data to external parties absent explicit written consent.
2. The User retains sole ownership of all uploaded content.
3. The Company implements industry-standard encryption protocols and access control measures to safeguard data integrity and confidentiality.
4. The User acknowledges that AI-generated outputs are provided "as is" and require independent verification for accuracy and reliability.

Data Protection & Encryption

1. Custom Sharing and Access Controls:
   • Organizations can restrict or grant access to data, ensuring appropriate permissions for each role.
   • Audit logs will track access and modifications, providing transparency on user activities.
2. Encryption: The Company employs industry-standard encryption protocols to safeguard User Data:
   • Encryption in Transit & At Rest: All data is encrypted using secure cryptographic methods while being transmitted and stored.
   • Access Controls: Multi-tier authentication and role-based access ensure that only authorized users can interact with Customer Data.
   • Data Segmentation: Customer Data is securely segmented to prevent unauthorized cross-access.
3. The Platform includes a hierarchical permission system that allows Users to configure access rights within their organization:
   • Admin-Level Controls: Organization administrators can assign and revoke user permissions.
   • Role-Based Access: Users may be granted read-only, edit, or administrative privileges based on predefined roles.
   • Custom Sharing Settings: Organization Admins may restrict or grant access to specific documents or datasets on a per-user or per-group basis.
4. To ensure transparency and security, the Platform maintains comprehensive audit logs that track system interactions, including:
   • User Activity Logs: Records of logins, file uploads, downloads, and data modifications.
   • Permission Changes: A history of access adjustments made by administrators.
   • Security Event Logging: Detection of unauthorized access attempts and system anomalies.
5. To maintain data integrity and continuity, the Company implements:
   • Automated System Backups: Regular backups are conducted to prevent data loss due to accidental deletion, corruption, or technical failures.
   • Restricted Backup Access: Backup data is accessible only to authorized personnel for recovery purposes and is not utilized for any secondary processing.
   • Disaster Recovery Measures: In case of a critical system failure, data restoration protocols ensure minimal downtime.
6. In the event of a data breach or security incident, the Company will:
   • Notify affected Users within 24 hours of discovery.
   • Implement containment measures to prevent further exposure.
   • Provide a detailed report outlining the nature of the breach, impacted data, and remedial actions taken.

Intellectual Property

1. The User retains intellectual property rights over content uploaded to the Platform.
2. The Company retains exclusive rights, title, and interest in and to the Platform's proprietary software, algorithms, and infrastructure.
3. The User shall not engage in reverse-engineering, unauthorized data scraping, or any attempt to circumvent the Platform's security architecture.

Breach

1. A breach of this Agreement occurs when The User or the Company fails to comply with any of the material terms set forth herein. This includes, but is not limited to:
   • Gaining or attempting to gain unauthorized access to the Platform, its systems, or any data not explicitly granted to The User.
   • Sharing access credentials or allowing unapproved third parties to use The User's account.
   • Reverse-engineering, tampering with, or circumventing the Platform's security features.
2. Confidentiality & Intellectual Property Violations:
   • Disclosing confidential information belonging to the Company or other Users without authorization.
   • Uploading, storing, or distributing copyrighted, infringing, or illegal content through the Platform.
3. Exceeding Permitted Use:
   • Using the Platform for any purpose outside the agreed scope, including commercial resale of AI-generated outputs without authorization.
   • Overloading the system with automated queries, data scraping, or actions that degrade service performance.

Organizational Data Sharing and Licensing

1. Voluntary Data Sharing: Participating Organizations (hereafter referred to as 'Organizations') may, at their discretion, choose to share portions of their uploaded or ingested content (hereafter referred to as 'Shared Data') with other authorized organizations using the Vulgate platform. All sharing is opt-in and must be explicitly authorized on a case-by-case basis via the platform's sharing interface.
2. Licensing Classification of Uploaded Content: At the point of ingestion or upload, organizations must designate a license for each document from the following platform-supported categories:
   • Public Domain: Content that is free of copyright protection and may be used for any purpose, including commercial use.
   • Attribution Required: Attribution Required: Freely usable for research purposes, provided appropriate attribution is given to the originating organization. Attribution is considered inherent when content is used within the Vulgate platform due to the embedded metadata; however, any external use of such content must explicitly include attribution to the originating organization.
   • Non-Commercial Use Only: Permitted for academic or research use but may not be used for commercial purposes.
   • Internal Use Only (Vulgate-Restricted): Access is restricted to organization-authorized users only. Not shareable or repurposable externally.
   • Copyrighted/Confidential: Content is private, non-shareable, and stored exclusively within the organization's private account.
3. Organizations are responsible for accurately applying a license designation to each item. The license selected will govern both internal access and external sharing permissions.
4. Metadata Classification and AI-Assisted Tagging: The platform uses AI to analyze metadata associated with uploaded content. If copyright status cannot be identified or verified by the system, the document will automatically be classified as Public Domain by default.
   • Organizations are responsible for reviewing and correcting automated classifications via their administrative dashboard.
   • Documents initially classified as Public Domain may be reclassified at any time by the organizations to restrict access or correct licensing errors.
5. Copyright Jurisdiction and Public Domain Assessment: When determining whether a document is in the public domain, the platform uses AI-assisted metadata analysis to identify available copyright information, including the country of origin and applicable jurisdictional laws.
   • If the copyright status and jurisdiction can be determined, that country's copyright laws will be applied when assessing whether the work is still protected or has entered the public domain.
   • If no copyright ownership or jurisdictional data is identifiable, the platform will apply U.S. copyright law by default. Under this framework, any document published before January 1, 1926 is presumed to be in the public domain unless the organization marks it otherwise.
6. Organizations remain solely responsible for verifying the copyright status of all documents they upload, regardless of the default classification. They may override or correct metadata classifications at any time through their account dashboard.
7. Data Storage and Sharing Behavior: Unless explicitly shared, all ingested documents remain private and are stored within the Organization's private account. Public classification does not automatically result in external visibility or sharing.
   • Public Domain documents will only be shared automatically with authorized partner organizations if a formal data-sharing agreement has been entered into via the platform.
   • Organizations may revoke shared access at any time by manually reclassifying or unsharing a document.
8. Restrictions on Use by Vulgate: Vulgate will not make use of Public Domain documents, even if no copyright exists, without prior written permission from the originating organizations.
   • This includes indexing for public tools, AI model training, derivative product development, or external publication.
9. Organizations are solely responsible for ensuring:
   • That they hold the legal rights to upload and distribute documents via the platform.
   • That copyright status is correctly reflected and maintained.
   • That metadata and license selections accurately represent the content's legal use rights.
   • That any shared materials comply with the permissions they have selected.
   • Vulgate disclaims any liability arising from misclassification, improper licensing, or unauthorized distribution of documents by organizations.

Indemnification

1. Indemnification by The User
   • The User agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Company, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees) arising from:
     • Misuse of the Platform by The User or their authorized representatives, including unauthorized sharing or data breaches.
     • Violation of third-party intellectual property rights resulting from content uploaded or processed through the Platform.
     • Failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations in the use of the Platform.
2. Indemnification by the Company
   • The Company agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless The User, their affiliates, officers, directors, and employees from any claims, damages, or liabilities arising from:
     • Breach of this Agreement due to gross negligence or willful misconduct by the Company.
     • Third-party claims that the Company's proprietary technology infringes upon legally recognized intellectual property rights.
3. Limitation of Liability
   • Except where prohibited by law:
     • Neither party shall be liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, including loss of revenue, profits, or data.
     • The total liability of the Company shall not exceed the total amount paid by The User in the six (6) months preceding the claim.

Fees & Payment

1. Fees shall be determined based on data volume and ingestion complexity, as specified in the Company's pricing policies. Which can be found here.
2. Organization Admins on the Free Plan are allotted $20.00 in credits to use for document ingestion without requiring entry of a credit card. Once these credits are exhausted, an Organization Admin must enter their billing details in order to continue ingestion, with regular billing initiated at this point.
3. Any ingestion costs incurred for paid users are charged to the credit card on file automatically on a monthly basis. All fees are exclusive of applicable taxes, which are the responsibility of the User.
4. Failure to remit payment when due shall result in suspension or termination of access to the Platform's services.
5. Organizational Billing:
   • An organization is responsible for all fees incurred by its users.
   • Individual users on organizational accounts do not have access to billing settings unless granted an Admin user role by an administrator.
6. Automatic Billing for Organizations:
   • If an organization fails to make a payment, all associated user accounts may be suspended until the issue is resolved.

Subscription and Auto-renewal

1. The Platform operates on a monthly subscription model. Users will be charged based on usage in accordance with the pricing plan selected.
2. Subscriptions automatically renew unless canceled by the User before the renewal date.
3. Users can manage or cancel their subscriptions through their account settings or by contacting customer support.

Service Level Agreements

1. The Company shall ensure a minimum system uptime of 99.5% per calendar month, excluding scheduled maintenance or force majeure events.
2. Non-critical support inquiries shall be responded to within twenty-four (24) hours, while critical system issues shall be addressed within eight (8) hours.
3. Downtime does not include pre-announced maintenance windows or interruptions caused by the User's actions.

Refunds or Credit for Downtime

1. If our platform experiences downtime in excess of the uptime guarantee stated above, we may offer a service credit or refund at our discretion. The amount is based on how long the platform was unavailable during your billing cycle.
2. Only accounts on paid plans are eligible to receive a service credit or refund.
3. Organizations on paid plans receiving a refund will have it applied to the primary billing account.
4. How We Calculate Refunds or Credits:
   • The formula is as follows: (Total Downtime in Hours ÷ Total Hours in the Billing Cycle) × Monthly Fee
   • Example: If your plan costs $250 per month and the platform is down for 1 hour during a 30-day billing cycle (720 hours), the refund would be: (1 ÷ 720) × 250 = $0.35
5. What's Not Covered:
   • Events beyond our control, like natural disasters, internet outages, or third-party service failures.
   • Issues with your own software, hardware, or internet connection.
   • Scheduled maintenance - we'll notify you in advance when this happens.
6. This refund or credit is the only compensation we offer for service downtime.
7. How to Request a Refund or Credit:
   • To receive a service credit or refund, you must submit a request within 30 days of the downtime event. If you don't submit a request within this period, you won't be eligible for a refund or credit.

Governing Law & Dispute Resolution

1. Any dispute arising under or in connection with these Terms shall be subject to binding arbitration in accordance with the laws of Ontario, Canada.
2. The arbitration shall be conducted in the English language in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
3. These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario, Canada, without regard to conflict of law principles.

Termination & Inactivity

1. Either party may terminate this Agreement by providing thirty (30) days' written notice.
2. Accounts deemed inactive for a period exceeding two (2) years may be subject to termination following prior written notification.

AI Generated Content Disclaimer

The Customer acknowledges that AI-generated content from chat conversations, translations, and analyses are automated outputs and should be independently verified for accuracy and reliability before critical application. The Company is not responsible for decisions made based on AI-generated content.

Contact Information

1. For questions or concerns regarding these terms, please contact Vulgate AI at info@vulgate.ai.
2. By using Vulgate AI, you acknowledge that you have read and understood these terms and agree to be bound by them.