1. Acceptance of Terms

By creating an account and/or using the Service, you affirm that you are at least 13 years of age (or 16 years of age if you are in the European Economic Area) and are otherwise fully able and competent to enter into the terms, conditions, obligations, affirmations, representations, and warranties set forth in these Terms, and to abide by and comply with these Terms. You agree to comply with all applicable laws when using the Service.

2. The Service

SMOTE provides a platform for students to organize course materials, generate study aids using AI, collaborate within courses, and manage academic schedules. Features include uploading materials, recording audio for lecture generation, AI Tutor chat, course-specific chats, and more (collectively, the &quots;Features&quots;). We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Service for your personal, non-commercial educational purposes, subject to these Terms.

3. User Accounts

1. Registration: You must register for an account to access most features. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information during registration and to update such information to keep it accurate, current, and complete.
2. Account Security: You are responsible for safeguarding your password and any activities or actions under your account. We encourage you to use a strong password. You must notify us immediately upon becoming aware of any breach of security or unauthorized use of your account.
3. Termination: We may terminate or suspend your account and access to the Service immediately, without prior notice or liability, for any reason, including breach of these Terms. You may terminate your account at any time via the account deletion feature within the app/service.

4. User-Generated Content (UGC)

1. Your Content: You retain ownership of the original content you create, upload, or submit to the Service, such as notes, audio recordings, uploaded files, and messages ("User Content").
2. License Grant: By submitting User Content, you grant SMOTE a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the User Content in connection with the Service and SMOTE's business, including for promoting and redistributing part or all of the Service. This license is necessary for us to operate the Service (e.g., storing your files, displaying them within courses you participate in).
3. Responsibility: You are solely responsible for your User Content and the consequences of posting or publishing it. You represent and warrant that you have the necessary rights to grant the license in Section 4.2 and that your User Content does not violate any third-party rights or applicable laws.
4. Prohibited Content: You agree not to submit User Content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable, infringing, or violates these Terms.
5. Content Relevance: Content shared within courses should be relevant to the educational purpose of the app and the specific course.
6. Moderation: We implement a moderation system involving user reporting for objectionable content or users. We reserve the right (but not the obligation) to review, filter, remove, or disable access to User Content that violates these Terms or is otherwise objectionable, based on user reports or our own discovery. Actions may include content removal or account suspension/termination based on our internal policies (e.g., repeat infringements). You can report content or users via the in-app/service reporting features.

5. AI Features

1. Use: The Service includes features utilizing artificial intelligence ("AI Features"), such as lecture generation, AI Tutor chat, etc. These are provided to assist with your educational activities.
2. Output Ownership: Subject to your compliance with these Terms, you generally own the output generated by the AI Features specifically for you based on your inputs ("AI Output"). However, AI Output is generated based on complex systems, and similar inputs may produce identical or similar outputs for different users. You grant SMOTE the necessary rights to store and display your AI Output within the Service as part of your User Content.
3. Accuracy Disclaimer: AI Features generate content based on patterns in data and may produce inaccurate, incomplete, or offensive information. AI Output does not represent SMOTE's views. You should independently verify the accuracy and appropriateness of any AI Output before relying on it, especially for critical academic purposes.
4. Prohibited Use: You agree not to use the AI Features for any unlawful or prohibited purpose, including but not limited to: generating harmful or infringing content, impersonation, spamming, academic dishonesty (e.g., plagiarism), attempting to reverse engineer the AI, or violating any applicable laws. See Section 4.4 for broader prohibited content rules which also apply here.
5. Data Usage for Training: As stated in our Privacy Policy, we do not use your inputs (prompts, uploaded content) or AI Output to train AI models.

6. Subscriptions and Payments

1. Premium Features: Certain features of the Service may require a paid subscription ("Premium Subscription"). Available subscription plans and their features will be presented within the Service.
2. Billing: Subscriptions are billed in advance on a recurring basis (e.g., monthly or annually). Payment will be charged via the payment method specified at the time of purchase (which may involve third-party processors like Stripe, or platform stores like Apple App Store/Google Play Store if applicable).
3. Auto-Renewal: Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of each billing cycle unless you cancel it at least 24 hours before the end of the current period through your account settings within the Service or via the relevant third-party platform (like App Store/Play Store if applicable). If you cancel, you will retain access to premium features until the end of the current billing period.
4. Price Changes: We reserve the right to change subscription fees. Any price changes will be communicated to you in advance and will only apply to subsequent billing cycles.
5. Refunds: Except when required by law, subscription fees are non-refundable. Refund requests must be directed to the platform where the purchase was made (e.g., Apple App Store, Google Play Store, or our customer support for direct web payments), subject to their respective policies.
6. Restore Purchases: If you have an existing subscription managed through a platform like the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and reinstall the app or change devices, you may need to use a "Restore Purchases" feature within the mobile app to regain access. This may not apply to web-based subscriptions.

7. Intellectual Property

Excluding User Content and AI Output generated for you, the Service and its original content, features, and functionality are and will remain the exclusive property of SMOTE and its licensors. The Service is protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws. Our trademarks may not be used in connection with any product or service without our prior written consent.

8. Third-Party Links & Services

The Service may contain links to third-party websites or services (e.g., authentication providers like Google/Apple, AI providers like OpenAI/ElevenLabs, backend services like Supabase, analytics/advertising services like Facebook SDK) that are not owned or controlled by SMOTE. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services. You acknowledge and agree that SMOTE shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any such content, goods, or services available on or through any such web sites or services. We advise you to read the terms and conditions and privacy policies of any third-party web sites or services that you visit. For details on data collected by integrated third-party services, please refer to our Privacy Policy.

9. Disclaimers of Warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS. YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, SMOTE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, ERROR-FREE, OR FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. INFORMATION AND AI OUTPUT OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICE MAY NOT BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE.

10. Limitation of Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL SMOTE, ITS AFFILIATES, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, OR LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, DATA, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES (EVEN IF SMOTE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES), RESULTING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE OR ANY CONTENT OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICE. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO THE SERVICE IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU, IF ANY, FOR ACCESSING THE SERVICE DURING THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100.00).

11. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless SMOTE and its licensee and licensors, and their employees, contractors, agents, officers, and directors, from and against any and all claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs or debt, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees), resulting from or arising out of a) your use and access of the Service, by you or any person using your account and password; b) a breach of these Terms, or c) User Content posted on the Service.

12. Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of New York, USA, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

13. Changes to Terms

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to modify or replace these Terms at any time. If a revision is material, we will provide at least 30 days notice prior to any new terms taking effect, notified via the app/service or other communication. What constitutes a material change will be determined at our sole discretion. By continuing to access or use our Service after any revisions become effective, you agree to be bound by the revised terms. If you do not agree to the new terms, you are no longer authorized to use the Service.

14. Contact Us

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us at info@howcan.io