Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") form a binding agreement between you and Fisherbird LLC ("Fisherbird", "we", "us", or "our") and govern your access to and use of ShelfLife — our iOS app, Android app, web app, marketing site, and related services (collectively, the "Service").

Please read these Terms carefully. By creating an account, signing in, or otherwise using the Service, you agree to be bound by them and by our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

1. Eligibility

You must be at least 16 years old to create an account or use the Service. If you are between 16 and the age of majority in your place of residence, you confirm that your parent or legal guardian has reviewed these Terms with you and agrees to them on your behalf.

The Service is not directed at, and you may not use it if you are, under 13 years of age, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

You may not use the Service if you are barred from doing so under the laws of the United States or any other applicable jurisdiction, or if your account has previously been suspended or terminated by us.

2. Your account

To use most features of the Service you need to create an account. You agree to provide accurate information when you register and to keep it up to date.

You are responsible for safeguarding your login credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. Notify us promptly at admins@theshelflifeapp.com if you suspect unauthorized access. We are not liable for any loss arising from your failure to keep your credentials secure.

You may have only one personal account, except where we explicitly authorize additional accounts (for example, a separate account for a review-bot integration).

3. License to use the Service

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, Fisherbird grants you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to access and use the Service for your personal, non-commercial enjoyment. All rights not expressly granted are reserved.

Nothing in these Terms transfers any ownership in the Service, our trademarks, or any other Fisherbird intellectual property to you.

4. Your content

The Service lets you submit reviews, shelves, spine photos, lists, and other material (collectively, "User Content"). You retain all intellectual-property rights you already have in your User Content.

By submitting User Content you grant Fisherbird a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable license to host, store, reproduce, modify (only to the extent needed for technical operation such as resizing, transcoding, or generating stylized spine renders), publish, publicly display, publicly perform, and distribute your User Content in connection with operating, providing, improving, and promoting the Service. This license is granted for the purpose of running the Service and ends when you delete your User Content or your account, except (a) for residual copies kept in backups for the retention periods described in our Privacy Policy, and (b) for User Content that you posted publicly and that has been incorporated by other users into their experience of the Service (for example, a community spine image selected by another user for their own shelf), in which case the license continues for that residual use only.

You represent and warrant that:

• you own your User Content or have all rights necessary to grant the license above;
• your User Content does not infringe or misappropriate the intellectual-property, privacy, or other rights of any third party; and
• your User Content complies with these Terms and applicable law.

Fisherbird does not endorse, and is not responsible for, User Content. You alone are responsible for your User Content and for the consequences of submitting it.

5. Acceptable use

You agree not to, and not to permit or encourage anyone else to:

• post, upload, or transmit any User Content that is unlawful, harmful, defamatory, threatening, harassing, hateful, sexually explicit (other than book cover art incidental to a legitimate review), or that promotes self-harm, violence, or discrimination;
• impersonate any person or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or organization;
• post User Content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, right of publicity, or other intellectual-property right;
• upload spine images or other material that you do not own or have a right to use;
• harass, stalk, intimidate, or threaten other users;
• attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service, other users' accounts, or our infrastructure;
• probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Service except through our authorized security-disclosure process (see Section 19);
• interfere with or disrupt the Service, the servers and networks connected to it, or any other user's use of it;
• use any automated means (bots, scrapers, crawlers, or similar) to access the Service, except for general-purpose search-engine indexing of our public marketing pages;
• aggregate, copy, or duplicate substantial portions of the book metadata or User Content available through the Service for the purpose of building a competing service;
• train machine-learning or generative-AI models on the Service or User Content other than your own without our prior written consent;
• introduce viruses, worms, trojans, or other malicious code; or
• use the Service to violate any applicable law, regulation, or the rights of any third party.

We may, in our discretion and without prior notice, remove User Content that we believe violates these Terms or applicable law, and we may suspend or terminate the accounts of users who do so.

6. Objectionable content and abusive behavior

ShelfLife has zero tolerance for objectionable content or abusive users. You agree not to post content that is unlawful, harassing, hateful, sexually explicit, or otherwise objectionable. You can report content or users from the "…" menu on any profile, review, or signal, and block any user from their profile. We review reports and act within 24 hours — removing content and restricting or removing offending accounts. Repeat or severe violations will result in permanent account termination.

7. Copyright complaints (DMCA takedown policy)

Fisherbird respects the intellectual-property rights of others and expects users of the Service to do the same. We respond to clear notices of alleged copyright infringement that comply with the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA").

7.1 Notice of alleged infringement

If you believe that material available on the Service infringes a copyright you own or control, you may send a written notice of alleged infringement to our Designated Agent.

To be effective under 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3), your notice must include substantially the following:

• A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
• Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple works are covered by a single notice, a representative list of those works.
• Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity, and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, with information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material (for example, a URL to the page on the Service where the material appears, the user handle that posted it, and the date posted).
• Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you, such as your address, telephone number, and email address.
• A statement that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
• A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

7.2 Designated Agent

Send notices to our Designated Agent at the contact details below. These details are also on file with the United States Copyright Office in the DMCA Designated Agent Directory.

Service Provider:

Fisherbird LLC

8401 Mayland Dr #5050

Richmond, VA 23294

United States

Designated Agent:

Copyright Manager

Fisherbird LLC

8401 Mayland Dr #5050

Richmond, VA 23294

United States

• Phone: +1 571-322-6160
• Email: info@fisherbirdsoftware.com

Notices sent to any other address or contact may not receive a timely response. Do not send unrelated correspondence (general support, press, partnerships) to the Designated Agent — use admins@theshelflifeapp.com instead.

7.3 What we do with a compliant notice

If we receive a notice that substantially complies with Section 7.1, we will expeditiously remove or disable access to the allegedly infringing material and take reasonable steps to notify the user who posted it (the "subscriber") that the material has been removed or disabled.

7.4 Counter-notice

If you are the subscriber and you believe your material was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification, you may submit a written counter-notice to the Designated Agent at the same address. Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3), an effective counter-notice must include substantially the following:

• Your physical or electronic signature.
• 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 was disabled.
• A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification.
• Your name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for the judicial district in which your address is located, or, if your address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which Fisherbird may be found, and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided the original notice or an agent of that person.

On receipt of a compliant counter-notice we will forward a copy to the person who sent the original notice and inform them that we may restore the material in 10 to 14 business days unless they file an action seeking a court order against the subscriber.

7.5 Repeat infringers

It is Fisherbird's policy in appropriate circumstances to terminate the accounts of users who are determined to be repeat infringers.

7.6 Misuse

Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material is infringing, or that material was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification, may be liable for damages. Please do not submit notices or counter-notices unless you have a good-faith basis for doing so.

8. Other intellectual-property concerns

If you believe content on the Service infringes a right other than copyright (for example, a trademark or right of publicity), please contact admins@theshelflifeapp.com with a description of the right, evidence that you own or control it, and the material at issue.

9. Third-party services and content

The Service uses third-party services and incorporates third-party content (for example, book metadata from Open Library/Internet Archive). Your use of those services and content may be subject to separate terms. We do not control and are not responsible for third-party services or content.

The Service is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any publisher, author, or rights-holder unless we expressly state otherwise.

10. Communications

By creating an account you agree to receive transactional communications from us at the email address you provided, including account verification, password reset, security alerts, deletion confirmations, and notices of changes to these Terms or our Privacy Policy. These communications are necessary to operate the Service and cannot be unsubscribed from without closing your account.

Marketing communications, if and when we send them, are opt-in and you may unsubscribe at any time.

11. Fees

The Service is currently provided free of charge. If we introduce paid features in the future, we will give you at least 30 days' notice before any paid feature applies to your account, and you will need to affirmatively agree to the relevant pricing before being charged.

12. Termination

You may stop using the Service at any time. You may delete your account from Account → Data → Delete account in the app, which initiates the deletion process described in our Privacy Policy.

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, with or without notice, if we believe you have violated these Terms, if your account has been inactive for an extended period, if we are required to do so by law, or if continuing to provide the Service to you would expose us or other users to material risk.

On termination, the licenses you grant us in Section 4 survive only to the extent described in that section, and the provisions of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination — including Sections 4 (residual content license), 7 (DMCA), 13 (disclaimers), 14 (limitation of liability), 15 (indemnification for User Content claims), 16 (governing law), 17 (informal dispute resolution), 18 (governing forum), and 21 (general) — will so survive.

13. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE AND ALL CONTENT, FEATURES, FUNCTIONALITY, AND MATERIALS MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH IT ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE", WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, FISHERBIRD DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ANY WARRANTIES ARISING FROM A COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE.

WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, ERROR-FREE, OR FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS, OR THAT ANY DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED. WE DO NOT WARRANT THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, OR USEFULNESS OF BOOK METADATA, REVIEWS, OR OTHER USER CONTENT.

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES; TO THE EXTENT YOU LIVE IN SUCH A JURISDICTION, SOME OF THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU AND YOU MAY HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS.

14. Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL FISHERBIRD OR ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THESE TERMS OR YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, REGARDLESS OF THE LEGAL THEORY (CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE) AND EVEN IF FISHERBIRD HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

IN NO EVENT WILL FISHERBIRD'S TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THESE TERMS OR YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU HAVE PAID TO FISHERBIRD IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, AND (B) ONE HUNDRED UNITED STATES DOLLARS (US$100).

NOTHING IN THESE TERMS LIMITS OR EXCLUDES LIABILITY THAT CANNOT BE LIMITED OR EXCLUDED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, INCLUDING LIABILITY FOR GROSS NEGLIGENCE, FRAUD, FRAUDULENT MISREPRESENTATION, OR INTENTIONAL MISCONDUCT, AND LIABILITY FOR DEATH OR PERSONAL INJURY CAUSED BY OUR NEGLIGENCE.

15. Indemnification (User Content claims)

To the extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Fisherbird and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any third-party claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) that arise from your User Content — for example, a claim that a spine photo you uploaded infringes a third party's copyright, trademark, right of publicity, or privacy rights, or that a review you posted is defamatory. This obligation does not extend to other aspects of your use of the Service.

We reserve the right, at our own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, in which case you agree to cooperate with our defense.

16. Governing law

These Terms and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.

If you live in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or another jurisdiction with mandatory local consumer-protection laws, nothing in this Section affects your rights to rely on those laws.

17. Informal dispute resolution

Before filing any formal action, you agree to try to resolve the dispute informally by sending a written notice describing the dispute and your proposed resolution to admins@theshelflifeapp.com. We will do the same for any dispute we may have with you. Both parties agree to negotiate in good faith for at least 60 days before initiating any formal proceeding.

We have intentionally chosen not to require binding arbitration or to waive your right to participate in class proceedings. Disputes that the parties cannot resolve informally are resolved in the courts identified in Section 18.

18. Governing forum

You and Fisherbird agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Richmond, Virginia for any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms or the Service, subject only to the small-claims-court carve-out in the next paragraph and any mandatory consumer-protection rules described below. Each party waives any objection to that venue or forum on the grounds of inconvenience.

Either party may bring an individual action in a small-claims court for claims that qualify under that court's local rules, in lieu of proceeding in the courts identified above.

If you live in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you may also bring proceedings in the courts of the EU member state or the part of the United Kingdom where you live, as required by applicable consumer law.

19. Security disclosures

If you believe you have found a security vulnerability in the Service, please report it to admins@theshelflifeapp.com and give us a reasonable opportunity to investigate and remediate before public disclosure. Good-faith security research conducted in accordance with this Section is welcomed and we will not pursue legal action against researchers who comply with it.

20. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will:

• update the Effective date at the top of the Terms;
• increment the version identifier; and
• notify you by email and an in-app notice at least 30 days before the changes take effect, unless a shorter notice is required to address a legal or security issue.

Continued use of the Service after the new effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not agree, you may delete your account before the new date.

21. General

Entire agreement. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and any other terms we link to that apply to specific features, constitute the entire agreement between you and Fisherbird with respect to the Service and supersede any prior agreements on that subject.

No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms is not a waiver of that provision. Any waiver must be in writing.

Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary and the remaining provisions will remain in full force.

Assignment. You may not assign or transfer these Terms or any rights under them without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of substantially all of our assets, or by operation of law. Any assignment in violation of this Section is void.

No third-party beneficiaries. These Terms do not create any third-party beneficiary rights.

Force majeure. We are not liable for any failure or delay in performance that results from causes beyond our reasonable control, including acts of God, war, terrorism, civil disturbance, labor disputes, internet or telecommunications failures, or governmental action.

Notices. We may give notice to you by email to the address associated with your account, by posting a notice in the Service, or by other reasonable means. You must give notice to Fisherbird by email to admins@theshelflifeapp.com.

22. Contact

Questions about these Terms? admins@theshelflifeapp.com