Terms of Service

Welcome to Bard Society. These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are a binding agreement between you and Bard Society (“we,” “us,” or “our”) and govern your access to and use of our website, applications, and services (collectively, the “Service”). By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

1. Eligibility

You must be at least 16 years old to use the Service. If you are under the age of majority in your jurisdiction, you may use the Service only with the involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian. By using the Service, you represent that you meet these requirements and that all registration information you provide is accurate.

2. Your Account

You are responsible for safeguarding access to your account and for all activity that occurs under it. We use passwordless sign-in (email codes, magic links, and supported identity providers); keep your email account secure. Notify us immediately of any unauthorized use. Membership in the Society community may be subject to approval, and we may decline, suspend, or revoke access at our discretion.

3. Your Content

“Your Content” means the videos, recordings, comments, critiques, profile information, and other material you submit to the Service. You retain ownership of Your Content. By submitting Your Content, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, transcode, display, and distribute Your Content solely for the purpose of operating, providing, and improving the Service (for example, processing your videos for streaming and showing them to other approved members). This license ends when you delete Your Content, except for copies retained in routine backups for a commercially reasonable period.

You represent and warrant that:

• You own or have all rights necessary to submit Your Content and grant the license above;
• Your Content, and our use of it as permitted here, does not infringe or violate the rights of any third party, including intellectual-property, privacy, and publicity rights;
• Any person who appears or is identifiable in Your Content has consented to being recorded and to that recording being shared within the Society.

4. Acceptable Use & Community Conduct

Bard Society is a community built on generous, specific, and useful feedback. You agree to follow our Community Guidelines, which are incorporated into these Terms. You agree not to:

• Post unlawful, harassing, hateful, defamatory, or sexually explicit content;
• Record or share content featuring other people without their consent;
• Harass, demean, or abuse other members through critiques or messages;
• Infringe intellectual-property rights or misappropriate others’ stories;
• Attempt to access accounts, data, or systems you are not authorized to access;
• Scrape, copy, or redistribute other members’ videos or content outside the Service;
• Upload malware or interfere with the operation, security, or integrity of the Service.

5. Critiques & Tier Progression

The Service includes peer critique and a tiered progression system. Scores, advancement thresholds, and tier placement are features of the Service that we may adjust, recalculate, or change at any time. Critiques reflect the opinions of individual members and are not endorsements by us. We do not guarantee any particular outcome, advancement, or result from using the Service.

6. Intellectual Property

The Service, including its design, text, graphics, curriculum, and software, is owned by us or our licensors and protected by intellectual-property laws. Except for Your Content and rights expressly granted to you, we reserve all rights. You may not copy, modify, distribute, or create derivative works from the Service without our prior written permission.

7. Third-Party Services

We rely on third-party providers to operate the Service, including video infrastructure (Mux), database and authentication (Supabase), email delivery (Resend), and hosting (Vercel). Your use of the Service is also subject to those providers’ terms where applicable. We are not responsible for third-party services we do not control.

8. Termination

You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access if you violate these Terms, create risk or legal exposure for us, or for any other reason at our discretion. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including ownership, disclaimers, limitation of liability, and indemnification) will survive.

9. Disclaimers

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, or that any content will be accurate or reliable.

10. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we and our affiliates will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, data, or goodwill, arising out of or related to your use of the Service. Our total liability for any claim relating to the Service will not exceed the greater of the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim or USD $100.

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from any claims, damages, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of Your Content, your use of the Service, or your violation of these Terms or the rights of any third party.

12. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will provide notice through the Service or by email. Your continued use after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

13. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. You agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located there, except where prohibited by applicable law.

14. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Contact us at hello@bardsociety.com.