Bindings Terms of Use

Last Updated: November 18th, 2024

Welcome to Bindings!

These Terms of Use (these “Terms”) constitute a legal agreement between you and Sweet Dot Dev LLC, a Washington limited liability company (“we”, “our”, or “us”) stating the terms and conditions that govern your access to and use of the Bindings website at https://bindings.app , content therein, and related technologies (together, the “Services”).

BY ACCESSING OR USING THE SERVICES, REGISTERING AN ACCOUNT WITH US, POSTING OR SHARING THE USER CONTENT, OR CLICKING ON A BUTTON ON THE SERVICES INDICATING YOUR CONSENT, YOU HEREBY AGREE TO COMPLY WITH AND BE LEGALLY BOUND BY THESE TERMS. You also hereby acknowledge that you have read and understand our Privacy Policy , which explains how we collect, use, and share your personal information. If you do not agree to these Terms, please discontinue use of the Services immediately.

If you are using the Services on behalf of an entity, then (a) “you” and “your” includes yourself and that entity, (b) you represent and warrant that you have the authority to bind the entity to these Terms, and that you agree to these Terms on the entity’s behalf, and (c) the entity is legally and financially responsible for your use of the Services as well as for the access or use of your account by others affiliated with your entity, including any employees, agents or contractors.

1. Our Services and Role

Our mission is to cultivate a vibrant online comics community of creators, publishers, readers, and fans. We achieve this by offering a suite of services that enable users to upload, share, and promote their comics, alongside providing marketing analytics and tools.

As a platform, we do not create or publish comics ourselves; instead, we facilitate their posting, sharing, and promotion. Users are solely responsible for ensuring their posted comics comply with intellectual property laws and all other applicable laws, rules, and regulations.

2. Account Registration

Our Services are not targeted at children. If you are under the age of 18, you must not use the Services.

You need to create an account with us to access and use the Services. When you create this account, you must provide accurate and current information. It is important that you maintain and promptly update your information to keep it update-to-date. All information you provide to register with the Services or otherwise is governed by our Privacy Policy. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account username and password. You are solely responsible for all activities that occur under your account. If you know or suspect of any unauthorized access to or use of your account or any other breach of security, please notify us immediately. We reserve the right to disable your account at any time, including if you have failed to comply with any of these Terms, or if activities occur on your account which, in our sole discretion, would or might cause damage to or impair the Services or infringe or violate any third-party rights, or violate any applicable laws.

3. Restrictions on Artificial Intelligence

We are committed to respecting and protecting the originality and creativity of artists, creators, and publishers. We strictly enforce artificial intelligence (“AI”) restrictions. Our Services do not incorporate any AI technology, nor do we host any AI-generated art. To safeguard the integrity of artists and their work, we do not allow the upload or posting of AI-generated art on our platform.

We are dedicated to preventing AI bots from scraping your comics or any artwork on our Services and using them to train AI models without permission. We will not share any of your comics or artwork with AI models. We ensure that none of our third-party service providers will feed your comics or artwork to generative AI models. Any AI models that attempt to abuse our Services will be banned.

We acknowledge the continuous development of AI technology. If we introduce any AI technology or features in the future, they will be clearly labeled, and you will have the option to opt-in.

4. Ownership and License of User Content

a. Ownership of User Content

You and other users of our Services may submit, upload, transmit, display, or otherwise make available consent through the Services, including without limitation, any comics, images, animated gifts, videos, links, and user comments (“User Content”). When you submit User Content through the Services, you hereby represent and warrant that you (a) own that User Content or have necessary licenses, permissions and consents to submit it to the Services; and (b) all such User Content is original works of authorship on your part and is not been copied, in whole or in part, from any other work, unless you have permission from its rightful owners, and that the User Consent does not violate, misappropriate or infringe any copyright, trademark or other proprietary right of any other party.

b. Restrictions of User Content

You agree that you will not submit to the Service any User Content or other material that violates our Code of Conduct and Content Guidelines outlined in Section 7 below. We do not tolerate any intellectual property infringing activities on the Service, and we reserve the right to remove any User Content if properly notified that such User Content infringes on other’s intellectual property rights.

You understand that any submitted User Content is non-confidential and non-proprietary.

You further understand that the information and materials in the User Content do not need to be verified or approved by us before being posted. We do not endorse any User Content submitted to the Service, or any opinion, recommendation, or advice expressed therein, and we expressly disclaim any and all liability in connection with the User Content. You shall be solely responsible for your own User Content and the consequences of submitting and publishing it on our Services.

c. License of User Content

We do not claim ownership of your User Content. These Terms don’t give us any rights to the User Consent except for the limited rights that enable us to make your User Content available on our Services. You hereby grant us and our affiliates a non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable, perpetual, and worldwide license to host, publicly display, copy and back up, transmit, and share the User Content on our Services and through digital sharing methods.

You may also choose to upload, transmit, or share your User Content on sites, platforms, or social media hosted by third parties. If you decide to do this, you must also comply with their terms and content guidelines.

5. Ownership and License of Our Content

All the content, software, tools, text, images, logos, marks, photographs, data, audio, video, design, codes, layout, “look and feel”, other content that is included on the Services and all intellectual property rights related thereto (“Our Content”), are either owned or licensed by us. Use of Our Content (excluding your own User Content) or materials on the Services for any purpose not expressly permitted by these Terms is strictly prohibited. Such content may not be downloaded, copied, reproduced, distributed, transmitted, broadcast, displayed, sold, licensed or otherwise exploited for any purpose whatsoever without our or, where applicable, our licensors’ prior written consent. We and our licensors reserve all rights not expressly granted in and to their content.

Subject to the terms and conditions of these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable, worldwide license to access and use the Services for purposes on any device that you own or control and as permitted by the applicable rules. This license does not entitle you to receive from us hard-copy documentation, support, telephone assistance, or enhancements or updates to the Services. The terms of this license will govern any upgrades provided by us that replace or supplement the original Services unless such upgrade is accompanied by a separate license in which case the terms of that license will govern. You acknowledge and agree that we may terminate this license at any time for any reason or no reason.

6. Copyright Policy

We respect the intellectual property rights of others and expect you to do the same.

d. Reporting Copyright Infringement

If you are a copyright owner or an agent thereof and believe that any materials accessible on or from the Services infringe your copyright, you may report the alleged copyright infringements and request removal of those materials (or access to them) from the Services by submitting a DMCA Notice of Alleged Infringement (“DMCA Notice”) to our copyright agent designated below. In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (17 U.S.C. § 512) (“DMCA”), we will respond expeditiously to those claims of copyright infringement. The DMCA Notice must include substantially the following:

Your physical or electronic signature.
Identification of the copyrighted work you believe to have been infringed or, if the claim involves multiple works on the Website, a representative list of such works.
Identification of the material you believe to be infringing in a sufficiently precise manner to allow us to locate that material.
Adequate information by which we can contact you (including your name, postal address, telephone number, and, if available, email address).
A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
A statement that the information in the written notice is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

Please deliver the DMCA Notice, with all items completed, to our designated copyright agent:

If you fail to comply with all of the requirements of Section 512(c)(3) of the DMCA, your DMCA Notice may not be effective. Please be aware that if you knowingly materially misrepresent that material or activity on the Services is infringing your copyright, you may be held liable for damages (including costs and attorneys’ fees) under Section 512(f) of the DMCA.

e. Counter Notice

If you believe that material you posted on the Services was removed or access to it was disabled by mistake or misidentification, you may file a counter notice with us (a "Counter Notice") by submitting written notification to our copyright agent designated above. Pursuant to the DMCA, the Counter Notice must include substantially the following:

Your physical or electronic signature.
An identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access disabled.
Adequate information by which we can contact you (including your name, postal address, telephone number, and, if available, email address).
A statement under penalty of perjury by you that you have a good faith belief that the material identified above was removed or disabled as a result of a mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
A statement that you will consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which your address is located (or if you reside outside the United States for any judicial district in which the Website may be found) and that you will accept service from the person (or an agent of that person) who provided the Services with the complaint at issue.

The DMCA allows us to restore the removed content if the party filing the original DMCA Notice does not file a court action against you within ten (10) business days of receiving the copy of your Counter Notice.

Please be aware that if you knowingly materially misrepresent that material or activity on the Services was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification, you may be held liable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees) under Section 512(f) of the DMCA.

f. Repeat Infringers

It is our policy in appropriate circumstances to disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who are repeat infringers.

7. Code of Conduct and Content Guidelines

As a platform dedicated to fostering a diverse and vibrant community of content creators, publishers, readers, and fans, we value inclusivity and authenticity, and we are committed to providing a safe, welcoming and respectful space for all. To ensure this, we have outlined our code of conduct and content guidelines that apply to your use of our Services. We trust you to use our Services responsibly.

a. Code of Conduct

You must use the Services in compliance with all applicable laws. You represent and warrant that you will not use or interact with the Services in a manner that:

Copies, modifies, adapts, translates, creates derivative works from, publishes, licenses, sells, or otherwise commercializes the Services, Our Content, or any related information or software;
Decompiles, reverse-engineers, disassembles, or otherwise attempts to derive source code from the Services;
Removes, obscures, or alters our copyright notices, trademarks, or other proprietary rights notices affixed to the Services or Our Content;
Rents, leases, sublicenses, makes available to the public, sells, or distributes the Services;
Impairs or interferes with the proper functioning of the Services;
Interferes with or disrupts any user, host, or network, such as by sending a virus, overloading, flooding, spamming, or mail-bombing any part of the Services;
Uses any robot, spider, or other automatic devices, or manual processes to monitor or copy the Services or Our Content without our prior express written permission;
Probes, scans, or tests the vulnerability of any system or network;
Breaches or circumvents any security or authentication measures;
Takes any action that imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure;
Sends unsolicited communications, promotions, advertisements, or spam;
Sends altered, deceptive, or false source-identifying information, including “spoofing” or “phishing”;
Conducts offensive behavior while using the Services, including bullying, harassment, hate speech, or degrading comments based on race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, or serious disease;
Impersonates or attempts to impersonate any person or entity;
Exploits, harms, or attempts to exploit or harm minors by exposing them to inappropriate content, asking for personally identifiable information, or otherwise;
Violate the law in any way, including storing, publishing or sharing material that’s fraudulent, defamatory, or misleading, or that violates the intellectual property rights of others;
violate the privacy or infringe the rights of others, including publishing, sharing, or storing other people’s confidential or identifying information without authorization for the purposes of harassing, exposing, harming, or exploiting them;
engage in any type of payment fraud, including unauthorized use of credit cards or other payment methods, illegitimate chargebacks, or any other method of obtaining the Services without required payment.
We reserve the right to remove or disable access to content at our discretion, at any time and without prior notice. All rights not expressly granted herein are exclusively reserved to us.

b. Content Guidelines

The following is a non-exhaustive list of prohibited User Content that should not be posted on the Services:

Hateful, discriminatory, or abusive content intended to incite hate, anger, or violence against any person or group based on race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, impairment, political orientation, or any other characteristics associated with systemic discrimination or marginalization.
Child sexually exploitative material, unlawful pornography, or other indecent content, including material that sexually exploits or promotes the sexual exploitation of minors.
Dangerous or illegal content that encourages, promotes, or solicits dangerous or illegal activities, including but not limited to: (a) spreading harmful misinformation; (b) promotion of illegal substances or drug use; (c) promotion or assistance with human trafficking; (d) invasion of others’ privacy; (e) content containing scams or fraudulent and deceptive activities.
AI-generated content, as it may be an unauthorized derivative of existing copyrighted material and is not eligible for copyright protection by the United States Copyright Office.
Any attempt to place an advertisement or redirect traffic to third-party websites unrelated to the content, or any content that harms the user experience of our community.

c. Reporting Inappropriate Content

At Bindings, we believe in the creator’s right to freedom of expression and allow for many varied points of view. However, if you encounter content that breaches our code of conduct and content guidelines, you can contact us sharing a link to the applicable posts, comments, or episodes. We will review reported materials and evaluate potential policy violations to determine if the content is inappropriate. Inappropriate content will be removed. We reserve the right to take further measures, such as blocking the creator from posting content and terminating their account. Please do not report content in bad faith. Falsely reporting content may result in action being taken against you.

8. Subscriptions, Credits and Payment

You may have access to a free version of certain Services. Some Services may require a paid annual or monthly subscription. Subscriptions will be automatically renewed until earlier cancelled before the end of the current period. You can cancel via your account settings or by contacting us , but no refunds are provided for the current period.

You may have access to purchase and acquire credits. Some services may require purchasing credits. Credits are non-refundable upon purchase.

Payments can be made via third parties. These payment processing services are subject to Payment Processor’s terms and conditions, privacy policy, and all other relevant agreements. By agreeing to these Terms, you hereby agree to be bound by the terms of the applicable Payment Processor and authorize the applicable Payment Processor to store and continue billing your specified subscription fees. We assume no liability for any payments you make through a Payment Processor.

We may modify the subscription fees, credits, and payment policies from time to time. Except as otherwise specified herein or in any purchase order, all subscription, and credit fees, are quoted and payable in United States dollars. Payment is non-cancelable and non-refundable.

9. Beta Offerings

We offer Services in alpha, beta, or limited release stages for testing, evaluation, proof of concept, or similar purposes (collectively, “Beta Offerings”). You may choose to use Beta Offerings at your sole discretion. If you use Beta Offerings, you agree to, at our request, report any issues or errors, suggest improvements, and provide us with necessary information for evaluation. Notwithstanding anything provided in these Terms, we make no representation or warranty and shall have no liability whatsoever in relation to the content or use of any Beta Offerings, and you are fully responsible for any damages incurred during your use of Beta Offerings. We may change, suspend, or discontinue Beta Offerings at any time in our sole discretion.

10. Change to the Services

We are always trying to improve the Services, which means they may change over time. This could involve suspending or discontinuing any part of the Services, introducing new features, or restricting access. Updates may be automatic or require manual action. We will try to give you notice when we make a material change to the Services that would adversely affect you, but this isn’t always practical. Similarly, we reserve the right to remove any User Content from the Services at any time, for any reason, in our sole discretion, and without notice.

11. Third-Party Services

You may be able to link from the Services to third-party websites, software, services, or other resources that take you outside of the Services (“Third-Party Services”). We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources. We have no responsibility for the information, content, products, services, advertising, code, or other material provided through the Third-Party Services. Your interactions with Third-Party Services are subject to their own terms.

12. Account Termination

We reserve the right to terminate or suspend access to your account or your use of the Services at our discretion, including for breach of these Terms. You can permanently delete your account at any time. Please refer to our Privacy Policy to understand how we handle information you provide after you stop using our Services.

Account termination may result in the deletion of any User Content associated with your account, so keep this in mind before deciding to terminate. We will try to provide advance notice before terminating your account so you can retrieve any important User Content (subject to law and these Terms), but we may not do so if it’s impractical, illegal, compromises safety or security, or harms our rights or property. Deleting your account means losing access to any unused paid subscription plans. No refunds will be issued after account deletion.

Provisions that, by their nature, should survive termination of these Terms shall survive termination. For example, the following will survive termination: any obligation you have to pay us or indemnify us, any limitations on our liability, any terms regarding ownership or intellectual property rights, and terms regarding disputes resolutions.

13. Warranty Disclaimer

THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” WE MAKE NO WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION TO YOU WITH RESPECT TO THEM. ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE DISCLAIMED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR THAT USE OF THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE.

In particular, we do not make any representations or warranties concerning any content contained in or accessed through the Services. We will not be responsible or liable for the copyright compliance, or legality of material contained in or accessed through the Services.

14. Limitation of Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT ALLOWED BY APPLICABLE LAW, WE WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE TO YOU OR OTHER PERSON FOR (A) ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOST PROFITS, LOSS OF GOODWILL, WORK STOPPAGE, ACCURACY OF RESULTS, OR COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION, OR (B) ANY AMOUNT, IN THE AGGREGATE, IN EXCESS OF THE GREATER OF (I) $100 OR (II) THE AMOUNTS PAID BY YOU TO US IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICES IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTH PERIOD PRECEDING THIS APPLICABLE CLAIM.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, any dispute you have with any third party arising out of your use of the Services, including, by way of example and not limitation, any copyright owner or any other user, is directly between you and such third party, and you irrevocably release us and our affiliates from any and all claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes.

15. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold us, our affiliates, officers, agents, employees, and partners harmless for and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses and expenses (including attorneys’ fees) arising from or in any way related to any third party claims relating to (a) your use of the Services (including any actions taken by a third party using your account), and (b) your violation of these Terms.

16. Changes to the Terms

We may at our sole discretion change, add, modify, or delete portions of these Terms from time to time. Please review these Terms for changes prior to use of the Services. Your continued use of the Services following the posting of changes to these Terms constitutes your acceptance of any changes.

17. Miscellaneous

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Washington, without reference to its choice-of- laws rules. The exclusive jurisdiction and venue for any action under these Terms will be in the state and federal courts of King County, Washington. You accept the exclusive personal jurisdiction of such courts. You may not assign any rights granted to you or delegate any of your duties hereunder and any attempt to do so is void and of no effect. We may assign our rights and delegate our duties under these Terms in their entirety in connection with a merger, reorganization, or sale of all, or substantially all, of our assets relating to these Terms. Nothing in these Terms will constitute a partnership or joint venture between you and us. These Terms and our Privacy Policy set forth the entire understanding and agreement between us with respect to the subject matter hereof. If any provision of these Terms is invalid or unenforceable in any jurisdiction, the other provisions herein will remain in full force and effect.