Terms of Service

1. Agreement to terms

Shelest’s websites, applications, platforms, products and services (the “Services”) are owned and operated by Next Standard Limited (“Shelest,” “us,” “our,” or “we”). Certain features of the Services may be subject to additional guidelines or rules posted on the Services, which are incorporated by reference into these Terms.

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your use of the Services. By accessing or using the Services, or by clicking “Continue” (or a similar button or checkbox) when that option is presented to you, you agree to these Terms on behalf of yourself or the entity you represent, and you confirm that you have the authority to do so. You must be at least 18 years old to use the Services. If you do not agree to these Terms, please do not use the Services.

When you affirmatively accept these Terms, including by clicking “Continue” where acceptance is requested, you also accept the Research Agreement, which is incorporated into these Terms, and consent to the collection and use of your audio, face and mouth video, transcripts, application context, and associated metadata to train, evaluate, and improve Shelest’s models, products and services as described in that agreement. This authorization is subject to the Research Agreement’s purposes, retention, withdrawal, and disclosure limits and applicable law. Merely visiting a website is not affirmative research consent.

2. Access to the Services

Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Services for your own personal or internal business purposes.

Except as expressly permitted by these Terms or applicable law, you may not: (i) license, sell, rent, lease, transfer, assign, distribute, or commercially exploit the Services or any content on them other than Your Content and Outputs; (ii) modify, create derivative works from, disassemble, reverse-compile, or reverse-engineer any part of the Services; (iii) access the Services in order to build a similar or competing product or service; or (iv) copy, reproduce, distribute, republish, download, display, post, or transmit any part of the Services except as expressly permitted by these Terms. All copyright and proprietary notices on the Services must be kept intact on any copies you are permitted to make.

We may modify, suspend, or discontinue the Services (or any part of them) at any time, with or without notice, subject to applicable law.

3. Your Content and Outputs

“Your Content” means information, data, and other content, in any form or medium, that is submitted, posted, or otherwise transmitted by or on behalf of you through the use of the Services. “Outputs” means the content, data, information, recommendations, and other materials that are generated through the Services by or for you through the processing of Your Content.

You grant Shelest a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free and fully paid license during the term of these Terms to use Your Content as necessary for purposes of providing and/or improving the Services, including training, evaluating, and improving models as described in the Research Agreement. This license is subject to the Privacy Policy and Research Agreement, including their retention, withdrawal, use, and disclosure limits.

Your Content hosted by Shelest as part of the Services, the Outputs (such Outputs, excluding any Third-Party Services embedded therein), and all worldwide intellectual property rights in and to the foregoing, are, as between you and Shelest and to the extent such rights exist, your exclusive property. All rights in and to Your Content and/or Outputs not expressly granted to Shelest in these Terms are reserved by you.

All intellectual property rights in the Services and their content — including copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets — belong to Shelest or its suppliers, excluding Your Content and Outputs. These Terms do not transfer any ownership rights to you, except for the limited access rights in Section 2. All rights not expressly granted are reserved.

4. Your responsibilities

You shall always comply with all international and domestic laws, ordinances, regulations, and statutes that are applicable to your access to and use of the Services hereunder. You represent and warrant that you have provided all notices and obtained all consents necessary to submit Your Content for use by Shelest and the Services as contemplated herein.

You represent and warrant to Shelest that: (1) you own Your Content, or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents, and permissions to authorize Shelest to use Your Content in accordance with these Terms; (2) Your Content and the use of Your Content as contemplated by these Terms does not and will not: (a) infringe, violate, or misappropriate any third-party right, including any intellectual property right; (b) slander, defame, libel, or invade the right of privacy, publicity, or other property rights of any other person; (c) violate, or cause Shelest to violate, any law or regulation; (d) be deceptive, obscene, pornographic or unlawful; or (e) contain any viruses, worms or other malicious computer programming codes intended to damage Shelest’s system or data; and (3) you will use the Services in compliance with any instructions provided by Shelest, and applicable laws, rules, and regulations.

5. Privacy

Your use of the Services is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. The Privacy Policy describes the types of personal data and other information we collect from you or your device, how we use that information, and the circumstances under which we may share it with third parties.

By using the Services, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Privacy Policy and that Shelest will process your personal data and other information in accordance with the Privacy Policy. If there is a conflict between these Terms and the Privacy Policy with respect to the collection, use, or processing of your personal data, the Privacy Policy will control. The Research Agreement’s specific restrictions on research data also apply.

6. Third-Party Services

The Services may include links to or integrations with third-party websites or services (collectively, “Third-Party Services”). We do not control, endorse, or take responsibility for any Third-Party Services. You use all Third-Party Services at your own risk, and you acknowledge and agree that the applicable third party’s own terms and privacy practices will apply to such use.

7. Feedback

If you share feedback or suggestions about the Services with us, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, non-exclusive, fully-paid, royalty-free license to use that feedback freely, in any manner and for any purpose, without attribution. Please do not submit any feedback that you consider proprietary or confidential. This feedback license does not expand our rights to process personal data under the Privacy Policy or Research Agreement.

8. Disclaimers

THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, SHELEST 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 SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, SECURE, OR FREE OF VIRUSES OR HARMFUL CODE.

SHELEST MAKES NO WARRANTY OR GUARANTY THAT THE OUTPUTS WILL PROVIDE ACCURATE, TAILORED OR INFORMATIVE RESULTS OR BE FIT FOR THE PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE CASE. SHELEST DOES NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT YOU ARE THE LEGAL OWNER OF THE OUTPUT, OR THAT YOUR CONTENT OR OUTPUTS ARE PROTECTABLE BY ANY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS, OR THAT THE OUTPUT DOES NOT INCORPORATE, INFRINGE OR MISAPPROPRIATE THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OR PROPRIETARY RIGHTS OF ANY THIRD PARTY. YOU SHALL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES AND ANY OUTPUTS RESULTING THEREFROM. YOU SHOULD EVALUATE THE FITNESS OF ANY OUTPUTS AS APPROPRIATE FOR YOUR SPECIFIC USE CASE.

SOME STATES AND JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF WARRANTIES. THIS SECTION WILL APPLY TO YOU SOLELY TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

9. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW: (A) SHELEST 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 RELATED TO THESE TERMS OR YOUR USE OF (OR INABILITY TO USE) THE SERVICES; AND (B) OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING UNDER THESE TERMS IS CAPPED AT THE GREATER OF (i) $50 USD AND (ii) THE AMOUNT PAID TO SHELEST BY YOU UNDER THESE TERMS IN THE SIX MONTHS PRIOR TO THE INCIDENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM. THE EXISTENCE OF MULTIPLE CLAIMS DOES NOT INCREASE THIS CAP.

10. Term and termination

These Terms remain in effect while you use the Services. We may suspend or terminate your access at any time and for any reason, including if we believe you have violated these Terms, subject to applicable law. Upon termination, Sections 3 through 11 will survive, subject to the Privacy Policy and Research Agreement.

11. General

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 Services. Your continued use of the Services after notice of changes means you accept the updated Terms, except where applicable law or the Research Agreement requires renewed affirmative acceptance or consent.

You agree not to export, re-export, or transfer any technical data or products acquired from the Services in violation of U.S. export control laws or applicable regulations in other countries.

By using the Services, you consent to receiving communications from us electronically (by email or notices posted on the Services). These electronic communications satisfy any legal requirement for written notice to the extent permitted by applicable law.

These Terms (together with the Privacy Policy, Research Agreement, and any other policies or guidelines referenced herein) are the entire agreement between you and Shelest regarding your use of the Services. If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, it will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to be valid, and the remaining provisions will continue in effect. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of that provision. The word “including” means “including without limitation.” You may not assign these Terms without our prior written consent; we may assign them subject to the Privacy Policy, Research Agreement, and applicable law. These Terms bind any permitted assignees.

These Terms apply only to the extent permitted by applicable law.