Terms of Service | PastReads

Welcome to PastReads. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of our website, applications, and services. Please read these Terms carefully before using PastReads.

By accessing or using PastReads, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, please do not use our service.

1. Using PastReads

Account Registration

To use certain features of PastReads, you may need to create an account. You are responsible for:

Providing accurate and complete information during registration
Maintaining the security of your account credentials
All activities that occur under your account
Notifying us immediately of any unauthorized access to your account

Account Termination

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account and access to PastReads if:

You violate these Terms
We reasonably suspect fraudulent or abusive activity
Your use of PastReads poses a risk to us or other users

2. Content and Conduct

Personal Use Only

PastReads is provided solely for your personal, non-commercial use. You may not use PastReads for any commercial purposes, including but not limited to:

Selling, licensing, or monetizing content stored on PastReads
Using PastReads to provide commercial services to third parties
Reproducing, duplicating, or copying PastReads for commercial purposes
Utilizing the service for market research or competitive analysis

Any commercial use requires prior written permission from PastReads.

User Content and Intellectual Property Rights

PastReads allows you to store and manage your reading highlights, notes, and library. You retain ownership of your content, but grant us a license to use, store, and display your content to provide and improve our services.

By uploading or creating content on PastReads, you warrant that:

You own all rights to the content or have authorization to use and share it
Your content does not infringe upon any third party's intellectual property rights
Your content complies with these Terms and all applicable laws
You have the legal right to grant us the license described in these Terms

You agree not to upload any content that:

Infringes any intellectual property or other proprietary rights of any party
You do not have a right to upload under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships
Contains unauthorized copyright-protected material beyond what is permitted under fair use doctrine or applicable copyright exceptions
Violates or misappropriates the intellectual property rights of others

PastReads reserves the right to remove any content that allegedly infringes another person's copyright or other intellectual property rights. Repeated copyright infringements will result in account termination.

You acknowledge that source excerpts, quotes, and highlights may be subject to copyright protection. You are responsible for ensuring your use of such content constitutes fair use or is otherwise permitted under applicable copyright laws.

References to Third-Party Content

PastReads may refer to or display images of sources, periodicals, software, services, logos, or other content created by third parties. You acknowledge that such references do not indicate that PastReads is associated with, or endorsed by, those third parties. All product names, logos, brands, and other trademarks or images featured or referred to within the PastReads service are the property of their respective trademark holders.

Modifications to Service

PastReads reserves the right to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Service (or any part thereof) with or without notice. You agree that PastReads will not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension, or discontinuance of the Service. We may also, in our sole discretion:

Establish general practices regarding use and storage of content on the Service
Limit the maximum period of time that data or content will be retained
Set maximum storage space allocated on our servers on your behalf
Change features, functionality, or content of the Service at any time

Copyright and Fair Use

You acknowledge that source excerpts, quotes, highlights, and other literary content you store on PastReads may be subject to copyright protection. You represent and warrant that your use and storage of such content:

Constitutes fair use under copyright law or is otherwise permitted under applicable copyright exceptions
Is for personal, non-commercial use only
Does not exceed reasonable quantity limitations that would compromise the original work's market value
Properly attributes original authors and sources where appropriate

PastReads doesn't claim ownership of content you upload but requires you to have sufficient rights to share and store that content through our Service. You are solely responsible for ensuring your compliance with applicable copyright laws when using our Service.

Prohibited Activities

You agree not to engage in any of the following activities:

Violating any applicable laws or regulations
Infringing on the intellectual property rights of others
Uploading malicious code or attempting to compromise system security
Scraping, crawling, data mining or using automated methods to access PastReads
Interfering with the proper functioning of PastReads
Creating accounts through unauthorized means
Impersonating another person or entity

3. Intellectual Property

PastReads and its original content, features, and functionality are owned by us and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. You may not reproduce, distribute, modify, create derivative works of, publicly display, or exploit our content in any way without our explicit permission.

Copyright Infringement Reporting

If you believe that your copyrighted work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement and appears on PastReads, please provide our designated copyright agent with the following information:

A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act on their behalf
Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed
Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing and where it is located on PastReads
Your contact information, including 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 law
A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on behalf of the owner

Email: info [at] pastreads.com
Subject Line: Copyright Infringement Notice

Upon receipt of a valid notice, we will remove or disable access to the infringing material and notify the user responsible for posting it. Users who believe their content was removed in error may submit a counter-notice. We have a policy of terminating the accounts of repeat infringers when appropriate and at our sole discretion.

4. Subscription and Payment

PastReads may offer subscription plans with different features and limitations. By subscribing to a paid plan:

You agree to pay all fees associated with your selected plan
Subscriptions automatically renew unless canceled before the renewal date
Refunds are provided in accordance with our refund policy
We may change subscription pricing with notice

5. Usage Data

As described in our Privacy Policy, we collect usage data when you use PastReads. This includes:

Your reading highlights and notes
Sources you add to your library
Features you access and use
Actions you take within the application
Device information and IP address

We use this data to provide, maintain, and improve our services, as well as to personalize your experience. For complete details on data collection and use, please refer to our Privacy Policy.

6. Disclaimers

PastReads is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. We do not guarantee that:

The service will be uninterrupted or error-free
Defects will be corrected
The service or server is free of viruses or other harmful components

7. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages resulting from your use of or inability to use PastReads, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

8. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless PastReads, its officers, directors, employees, and agents from any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, or expenses arising from or relating to your use of PastReads, your violation of these Terms, or your infringement of any rights of another person or entity.

9. Third-Party Links

PastReads may contain links to third-party websites or services not owned or controlled by us. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services. You acknowledge and agree that we shall not be responsible or liable for any damage or loss caused by your use of such websites or services.

10. Data Protection (GDPR Compliance)

For users in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, and Switzerland, we comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and equivalent legislation. Under these regulations, you have the following rights:

Right to access your personal data
Right to rectification of inaccurate personal data
Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten")
Right to restriction of processing
Right to data portability
Right to object to processing
Rights related to automated decision-making and profiling

To exercise your GDPR rights, please contact us via the methods described in the "Contact Us" section. We will respond to your request within 30 days. If we process your data based on our legitimate interests, you can object to this processing. In such cases, we will cease processing your data unless we have compelling legitimate grounds to continue or where it is needed for legal reasons.

For data transfers outside the EEA, we implement appropriate safeguards to ensure your data is protected, including using Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission.

11. Changes to Terms

We reserve the right to modify or replace these Terms at any time. If a revision is material, we will provide at least 30 days' notice prior to any new terms taking effect. What constitutes a material change will be determined at our sole discretion. By continuing to access or use PastReads after any revisions become effective, you agree to be bound by the revised terms.

12. Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the jurisdiction in which PastReads operates, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

13. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

14. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and PastReads regarding your use of our service and supersede any prior agreements.

15. Contact Us

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us via the contact page which is linked at the bottom of every page.