Draft. This document is not final — the bracketed fields are still to be filled in.
Terms of Use
Version 1.0. Last revised: [DATE]
The website at joinasterisk.com and the related services described below (together, the "Service") are owned and operated by [LEGAL ENTITY NAME], trading as Asterisk ("Asterisk", "we", "us", "our").
These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your use of the Service. By accessing or using the Service, or by clicking "I agree" where that option is presented, you agree to these Terms on your own behalf or on behalf of the organization you represent, and you confirm you have authority to do so. If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Service.
1. Eligibility
You must be at least 18 years old to use the Service. The Service is not directed at, and may not be used by, anyone under 18. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 18, we may suspend or delete it.
2. What the Service is
Asterisk is a plugin for AI assistants. You select from a library of experts, and Asterisk retrieves relevant passages from their public work and makes them available to your AI assistant during a conversation. You sign in with a Google account and issue personal access tokens that let your AI assistant query the Service on your behalf. We may change what the Service does, including which experts and features are available, at any time.
2.1 The experts and their work. The people whose work Asterisk draws on are not affiliated with us. They have not endorsed, sponsored, reviewed, or approved Asterisk, and they are not involved in operating it. We name them only to identify whose published work a passage came from.
2.2 What the Service gives you. Asterisk returns passages from published work, together with material generated by your AI assistant in response to it. It is not the advice of the person quoted, and no passage should be read as that person addressing your situation. Asterisk does not provide legal, financial, tax, medical, or other professional advice, and nothing it returns is a substitute for advice from a qualified professional. We do not guarantee that any passage is accurate, current, complete, or correctly attributed, and you rely on it at your own risk.
3. Accounts
3.1 Creating an account. Accounts are created by signing in with Google. You agree that the information associated with that account is accurate and that you will keep it current. You may close your account at any time by contacting us at [CONTACT EMAIL].
3.2 Account security. You are responsible for keeping your Google account and any access tokens you generate confidential, and for all activity that occurs under your account or those tokens. Tokens are shown to you once, at the moment they are created, and we store only a one-way cryptographic hash of them, so we cannot recover a token you have lost. You can revoke a token at any time from your dashboard. Tell us immediately at [CONTACT EMAIL] if you believe your account or a token has been used without your authorization. We are not liable for losses arising from your failure to keep your credentials secure.
4. Access to the Service
4.1 License. Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Service.
4.2 Restrictions. You may not: (i) license, sell, rent, lease, transfer, assign, distribute, or commercially exploit the Service or any content obtained through it; (ii) modify, create derivative works from, disassemble, reverse-compile, or reverse-engineer any part of the Service; (iii) access the Service in order to build a similar or competing product or service; (iv) use automated means to extract, scrape, or bulk-download content from the Service beyond the ordinary use the Service is designed for; (v) share, sell, or publish an access token, or use the Service in a way that lets people without their own account use it through yours; or (vi) attempt to circumvent any rate limit, access control, or security measure. All copyright and proprietary notices must be kept intact on any copies you are permitted to make.
4.3 Changes to the Service. We may modify, suspend, or discontinue the Service, or any part of it, at any time, with or without notice. We are not liable to you or any third party for doing so.
4.4 No support obligation. We have no obligation to provide support or maintenance for the Service.
4.5 Ownership. All intellectual property rights in the Service belong to Asterisk or its suppliers. These Terms transfer no ownership rights to you beyond the limited license in Section 4.1. All rights not expressly granted are reserved.
4.6 Feedback. If you send us feedback or suggestions about the Service, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, non-exclusive, fully paid, royalty-free license to use that feedback for any purpose without attribution. Please do not send us feedback you consider confidential or proprietary.
5. Your inputs
You keep any rights you have in the queries, prompts, and other material you submit to the Service ("Your Inputs"). You grant us a license to process Your Inputs only to the extent needed to operate and secure the Service for you.
We do not use Your Inputs to train or fine-tune AI models, our own or anyone else's, and we do not sell Your Inputs.
You are responsible for Your Inputs. Do not submit anything unlawful, anything you do not have the right to submit, or anything containing sensitive personal information about yourself or anyone else.
6. Fees
The Service is currently provided free of charge. We may introduce paid plans in future. If we do, we will present the applicable pricing and payment terms to you before you are charged, and you will not be charged for anything you have not agreed to. Any paid plan will be governed by those additional terms together with these Terms.
7. Privacy
Your use of the Service is also governed by our Privacy Policy at https://joinasterisk.com/privacy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. It describes what personal information we collect, how we use it, when we share it, and the cookies we use. If there is a conflict between these Terms and the Privacy Policy about the handling of personal information, the Privacy Policy controls.
8. Third-party services
The Service integrates with and links to services operated by third parties, including Google sign-in and the AI assistants you connect through an access token (together, "Third-Party Services"). We do not control or endorse Third-Party Services and take no responsibility for them. You use them at your own risk, and the relevant third party's own terms and privacy practices apply to that use.
9. Indemnification
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Asterisk and its officers, employees, and agents from any claims and reasonable costs or legal fees arising out of (i) your use of the Service, (ii) your breach of these Terms, or (iii) your breach of any applicable law or regulation. We may assume control of the defense of any such claim at your expense, and you agree to cooperate. You will not settle any such claim without our prior written consent. We will make reasonable efforts to notify you promptly of any claim we become aware of.
10. Disclaimers
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE". TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, ASTERISK AND ITS SUPPLIERS DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, SECURE, OR FREE OF HARMFUL CODE, OR THAT ANY RESULT IT RETURNS WILL BE ACCURATE OR COMPLETE.
Nothing in this Section limits any warranty or right that cannot be excluded under the law that applies to you.
11. Limitation of liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW:
(a) ASTERISK AND ITS SUPPLIERS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST DATA, COSTS OF SUBSTITUTE PRODUCTS, OR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR YOUR USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE SERVICE; AND
(b) OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING UNDER THESE TERMS IS CAPPED AT THE GREATER OF (i) $50 AND (ii) THE TOTAL AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE SIX MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM. HAVING MORE THAN ONE CLAIM DOES NOT INCREASE THIS CAP.
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited. If you are a consumer, you have statutory rights that these Terms do not affect.
12. Term and termination
These Terms apply while you use the Service. We may suspend or terminate your access, including suspending or deleting your account, at any time and for any reason, including if we believe you have breached these Terms. We are not liable to you for doing so. Sections 4.2 and 4.5 through 4.6 and Sections 5 and 8 through 14 survive termination.
13. Notices for United States residents
This Section applies only to users subject to the laws of the states named.
13.1 California. Under California Civil Code Section 1789.3, California users are entitled to the following notice. The provider of the Service is [LEGAL ENTITY NAME], [POSTAL ADDRESS]. To file a complaint about the Service, or to request further information about using it, write to that address or contact us at [CONTACT EMAIL]. You may also contact the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs at 1625 N. Market Blvd., Suite N112, Sacramento, CA 95834, or by telephone on (800) 952-5210. California residents may have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, including rights to know, delete, and correct personal information and to opt out of its sale or sharing. See our Privacy Policy at https://joinasterisk.com/privacy.
13.2 Nevada. Nevada residents have the right under Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 603A to direct us not to sell certain information we have collected or will collect about them. We do not sell personal information. To exercise this right, contact us at [CONTACT EMAIL].
14. General
14.1 Changes to these Terms. We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by email at the address on file or by a prominent notice on the Service. Continuing to use the Service after that notice means you accept the updated Terms.
14.2 Governing law and jurisdiction. These Terms, and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or to the Service, are governed by the laws of England and Wales. You and Asterisk submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales, except that: (a) either party may seek injunctive or other equitable relief in any court of competent jurisdiction to protect its intellectual property rights; and (b) if you are a consumer resident in the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, nothing here deprives you of the protection of the mandatory laws of your country of residence, or of your right to bring proceedings in the courts of that country.
14.3 Electronic communications. By using the Service you consent to receiving communications from us electronically, by email or by notices posted on the Service. These satisfy any legal requirement that a communication be in writing.
14.4 Accessibility. We aim to make the Service usable by everyone, including people with disabilities, and endeavor to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA. If you have difficulty accessing the Service or suggestions for improving it, contact us at [CONTACT EMAIL] and we will make reasonable efforts to respond promptly.
14.5 Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any other policies referenced in them, are the entire agreement between you and Asterisk about your use of the Service. If any provision is found invalid or unenforceable, it will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to be valid and the rest will remain in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it. "Including" means "including without limitation". You may not assign these Terms without our prior written consent; we may assign them freely.
14.6 Copyright and trademarks. Copyright © [YEAR] [LEGAL ENTITY NAME]. All rights reserved. All trademarks, logos, and service marks shown on the Service belong to Asterisk or to third parties and may not be used without the owner's prior written consent.
14.7 Contact. [LEGAL ENTITY NAME], [POSTAL ADDRESS]. Email: [CONTACT EMAIL].
14.8 Third-party names. Names, titles, and marks belonging to the people and organizations whose work Asterisk draws on remain theirs. We use them only to identify the source of a passage, not to suggest any association. If you own such a name or work and object to its use, contact us at [CONTACT EMAIL] and we will respond promptly.