Terms of Service

1. Agreement to Terms

Welcome to Open Mool. These Terms of Service ("Terms") constitute a legally binding agreement between you and the Open Mool Foundation ("Open Mool," "we," "our," or "us") governing your access to and use of openmool.org and all associated services, applications, and content (collectively, the "Platform").

By accessing or using the Platform, you agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, you must not use the Platform.

You must be at least 13 years old (or 16 in the European Economic Area) to use our services. By using the Platform, you represent that you meet this age requirement.

2. Our Mission

Open Mool is a non-profit, open-source initiative building a sovereign digital archive for Himalayan cultural heritage. Our mission is to preserve oral traditions, dialects, folklore, and historical knowledge before they are lost to time.

We operate as a public utility for cultural data, similar to how Wikipedia serves knowledge. Understanding this mission is fundamental to these Terms, as content contributed is intended for the public benefit and long-term preservation.

3. User Accounts

3.1 Registration

To contribute content or access certain features, you must create an account through our authentication provider (Auth0). You agree to provide accurate information and keep your credentials secure.

3.2 Account Responsibilities

• You are responsible for all activity under your account.
• You must notify us immediately of any unauthorized access.
• We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms.

3.3 Guardian Status

Contributors who regularly upload verified content may earn "Guardian" status with additional privileges. Guardian status is earned through contribution and is not a contractual right.

4. Content Contribution

4.1 Content License Grant

By uploading content to Open Mool, you grant the Open Mool Foundation a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable license to:

• Host, store, reproduce, and publicly display your contributions.
• Process content using AI/ML for transcription, translation, tagging, and semantic indexing.
• Create derivative works (e.g., translated transcriptions, embeddings for search).
• Distribute content through the archive and federation partners (Mool Nodes).
• Archive content on decentralized storage (IPFS, Arweave) for permanent preservation.

This license is necessary to fulfill our preservation mission. You retain ownership of your original content.

4.2 Content Requirements

When contributing content, you represent and warrant that:

• You have rights: You own or have obtained necessary permissions to share the content.
• Consent obtained: For recordings of individuals, you have obtained appropriate consent (especially for sacred, ceremonial, or personal content).
• Accurate metadata: Information provided (location, date, cultural context) is accurate to the best of your knowledge.
• No harmful content: Content does not contain malware, spam, harassment, hate speech, or illegal material.

4.3 Cultural Sensitivity

Open Mool handles culturally sensitive material. You agree to:

• Respect the cultural significance of the content you upload.
• Flag content that may be ceremonially restricted or require limited access.
• Respect removal requests from community members or their representatives.
• Not exploit cultural content for commercial purposes without appropriate agreements.

4.4 Attribution & Karma

Contributors receive public attribution and "Karma" reputation points for verified contributions. You agree that your username, profile, and contribution history may be publicly displayed.

5. Prohibited Conduct

You agree not to:

• Upload content you don't have rights to share or that violates third-party rights.
• Misrepresent content authenticity, origin, or cultural context.
• Use automated systems (bots, scrapers) to access the Platform without permission.
• Attempt to circumvent security measures or access unauthorized areas.
• Harass, abuse, or harm other users or community members.
• Upload malware, viruses, or malicious code.
• Use the Platform for commercial exploitation without appropriate licensing agreements.
• Impersonate others or create fake accounts.
• Interfere with the operation of the Platform.

6. Intellectual Property

6.1 Platform IP

The Open Mool Platform, including its source code, is released under the MIT License (open source). The Open Mool name, logo, and branding are trademarks of the Open Mool Foundation.

6.2 Contributed Content

Contributed cultural content is held in stewardship by the Open Mool Foundation under the Open Mool Content License:

• Non-commercial use: Freely available for personal, educational, and research purposes with attribution.
• Commercial use: Requires a license agreement with revenue-sharing provisions benefiting the original communities.
• AI training: Content may be used to train AI models for cultural preservation purposes (e.g., dialect transcription). External AI training requires explicit agreements.

6.3 DMCA & Takedown

We respect intellectual property rights. If you believe content infringes your rights, submit a takedown notice to legal@openmool.org with:

• Description of the copyrighted work.
• Location (URL) of the infringing content.
• Your contact information.
• A statement of good faith belief and accuracy, under penalty of perjury.

7. AI Processing & Machine Learning

By using Open Mool, you acknowledge and consent to the following AI/ML processing:

• Automatic Transcription: Audio and video content may be automatically transcribed using speech-to-text AI.
• Vector Embedding: Content is converted to vector embeddings for semantic search capabilities.
• Tagging & Classification: AI may suggest metadata tags such as language, region, and content type.
• Translation: Transcriptions may be automatically translated to increase accessibility.

AI-generated outputs (transcriptions, tags) may contain errors. Users are encouraged to review and correct AI outputs. Corrected outputs improve future accuracy.

8. Institutional Partners

NGOs, universities, museums, and cultural trusts ("Foundations") may enter into partnership agreements with Open Mool for bulk uploads and branded collections. Institutional terms are governed by separate partnership agreements that supplement these Terms.

9. Disclaimers

• We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or authenticity of user-contributed content.
• AI-generated transcriptions, translations, and tags may contain errors.
• We do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free service.
• We are not responsible for content uploaded by users that violates third-party rights.

10. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, OPEN MOOL AND ITS AFFILIATES, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND VOLUNTEERS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR:

• Any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages.
• Loss of profits, data, or goodwill.
• Any damages arising from user-contributed content.
• Service interruptions or data loss.

Our total liability shall not exceed the greater of $100 USD or any amounts you have paid to Open Mool in the 12 months preceding the claim.

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Open Mool, its Foundation, affiliates, and volunteers from any claims, losses, damages, liabilities, and expenses (including legal fees) arising from:

• Your use of the Platform.
• Content you upload or share.
• Your violation of these Terms.
• Your violation of any third-party rights.

12. Modifications to Terms

We may modify these Terms at any time. Material changes will be communicated via email or a prominent notice on the Platform at least 30 days before taking effect. Your continued use constitutes acceptance of modified Terms.

13. Termination

You may terminate your account at any time by contacting us. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms without notice.

Upon termination, content you have contributed remains part of the archive (per the license grant in Section 4.1), but your personal data will be handled per our Privacy Policy.

14. Governing Law & Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of India, without regard to conflict of law principles. Any disputes shall be resolved through:

1. Informal Resolution: Contact us first to attempt amicable resolution.
2. Mediation: If informal resolution fails, disputes will be submitted to mediation.
3. Arbitration: Binding arbitration in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India, under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.

Nothing prevents either party from seeking injunctive relief in courts of competent jurisdiction.

15. Miscellaneous

• Entire Agreement: These Terms, along with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement.
• Severability: If any provision is found unenforceable, the remainder stays in effect.
• Waiver: Failure to enforce any right is not a waiver of that right.
• Assignment: You may not assign these Terms. We may assign to affiliates or successors.
• Force Majeure: We are not liable for failures due to circumstances beyond our control.