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Terms and conditions

These Terms of Service govern the access to and use of Aksharathalukal (“Company” / “We”/ “Our”), ‘Aksharathalukal’ website (www.aksharathalukal.in) (“Website”), the ‘Aksharathalukal’ application available on Android (together “Application”) by any person (“User”/”You”/”Your”).

Company primarily facilitates a User to

  • upload and publish literary works /audio works /graphic novel works or works in any other format as may be enabled from time to time (such as books, poems, articles, comics etc. and includes cover images/ other images used in each such work) (“Published Work(s)”) on the Website/Application in different languages,
  • consume such Published Works as well as any such works published by Company itself (referred to as “Company Content”) on the Website/ Application

Published Works and Company Content shall together be referred to as “Content”.

In order to enrich the User’s experience while utilizing the Website/Application, Company may offer ancillary features (“Features”) including but not limited to (i) submitting reviews on the Content, (ii) chat feature to communicate with other Users, (iii) setting a username, profile picture and entering other details on the User’s profile . All material uploaded by the User while using these ancillary features shall be referred to as (“Inputs”).

All the above features offered by the Company shall be referred to as (“Services”).

By browsing through the Website/Application and availing the Services, You agree to be bound by these Terms of Service read along with the Privacy Policy and represent that You are above 18 years of age and/or have the authority to enter into a binding contract with Company. If You are under 18 years of age, You must obtain consent from Your parent(s) or legal guardian(s) who will be responsible for your acceptance and compliance of these Terms of Service. If You do not have consent from Your parent(s) or legal guardian(s), You must stop using/accessing the Website/Application.

This is an electronic record under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and rules there under. Therefore, no signature is required to make the Terms of Service binding on the User. These Terms of Service along with the Privacy Policy have been formulated as required under Rule 3 (1) (a) of the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code)) Rules, 2021.

USER OBLIGATIONS

By using the Services, User agrees to abide by the below obligations:

  1. Accuracy: To provide complete and accurate information while registering on the Website/Application and to contact Company if there is any change in such information. Further, User must not impersonate any other person.
  2. Confidentiality: To maintain confidentiality of the User’s account details and be responsible for any use of the Services through the User’s account.
  3. Ownership: To ensure that the copyrights in the Published Works uploaded are fully owned by the User or validly assigned/ licensed to, that the same are original, and that the same does not violate the patent, trademark, copyright, or other proprietary rights of any third party.
  4. Guidelines and Policies: To adhere to Content Guidelines (included herein below) and any and/or all other policies and guidelines published by the Company anywhere on the Website/Application including at the Policy and Safety guidelines with respect to the use of the Website/Application.
  5. Reproduction: To not reproduce any Content from the Website/Application and publish it on any other platform or medium without authority, whether for commercial gain or otherwise.
  6. License: Grant Company for the lifetime of the User or till the Published Works are published on the Website/Application, whichever is earlier:
    a) A license to publicly display their name/username to attribute the Published Works uploaded on the Website/Application.
    b) A worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive right and license for the Company to adapt, publish, reproduce, process, modify the Published Works to distribute, disseminate, transmit the Published Works and its derivatives on any mode, medium or through any distribution method including those which may come into existence in the future; and
    c) Right to showcase any Published Works to a third party for the purposes of any potential collaboration without prior intimation to User.
  7. Illegal Activities: Not use the Services to perform any illegal activities nor solicit the performance of any illegal or any activity which leads to violation of third party’s rights.
  8. Virus: To not upload any material which contains software viruses, or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer resource used to provide the Services.
  9. Non-Solicit: To not advertise or solicit any products or services, including offers with respect to a User’s Published in any manner on the Website/Application, including by publishing such messages as Published Works or through the Features available on the Website/Application.
  10. Spam: To not approach or target Users with any communication in any manner, including in the form of Published Works or through the Features, which are in the nature of spamming and with an intention to cause the Users to remove their Published Works from the Website/Application or to on-board the Users and/or their Published Works onto other content platforms or to initiate conversation with Users for the foregoing.
  11. Security:
    a) Not probe, scan or test the vulnerability of the Website/Application
    b) Not disrupt or breach the security or authentication measures or circumvent the navigational structure, with respect to the Website/Application or the network
    c) Not use any manual or automated software, devices or other processes to “crawl” or “spider” any part of the Website/Application
    d) Not to use cheats, exploits, automation, software, bots, hacks, or any unauthorized third-party software to modify or interfere with the Services or in any manner to gain undue advantage from the Services or features
    e) Not place an unreasonable burden on the Company’s infrastructure
  12. Unfair Conduct: Not engage in any unfair conduct such as using unauthorized means to gain Earnings or My Coins or misuse any of the programs offered on the Website/Application or engage in any other fraudulent/wrongful activity on the Website/Application.
  13. Access: To access and use the Services solely for the User’s personal and non-commercial purposes and to not access the Website/Application or obtain the Content through any means other than as permitted.
  14. User Data: Not trace any information pertaining to another User or exploit any such information, including storing and collecting the same.
  15. Trademark and Design: To not use, misuse or misappropriate the trademark ‘Aksharathalukal’, any logo or any design of the Website/Application, which are owned/used by the Company for any unauthorized purpose.

RIGHTS OF THE COMPANY

User acknowledges the following rights of the Company:

  1. Remove Content: Company has the right to remove any Published Works/Inputs which it deems objectionable or is infringing, as per its discretion or as required under law.
  2. Suspension: Company has the right to restrict/suspend/terminate the account of any User to access all or part of the Services, at its discretion, including for violation by the User of these Terms of Service.
  3. Intellectual Property: The Service and all components thereof including the Website/Application and all logos, trademarks, brand names, service marks, domain names, including designs, and graphics created by and developed by the Company on the Website/Application and other distinctive brand features of the Website/Application are exclusively owned by the Company and all intellectual property rights vested therein belong to the Company.
  4. Company Content: Any Company Content belongs to the Company or its licensors and assignors. No rights therein transfer to the Users except for the purpose of legitimate use of the Service in accordance with these Terms of Service.
  5. Personal Data: Company shall process the personal data of the Users submitted in accordance with the Privacy Policy.
  6. Payment: Company shall decide the terms and conditions associated with any features introduced on the Website/Application pertaining to issue of virtual currency on the Website/Application and the way they can be used by the Users. Such terms shall be as set forth herein or as communicated to the User via the Website/Application
  7. Legal disclosure: Company may disclose the details of any User or any other details regarding the Published Works/Inputs or take any other action as required under law or a lawful order by government agencies who are authorized to investigate any cyber security incidents.
  8. Enhance security measures: Company may put in place enhanced security and technical measures from time to time to prevent and tackle violation of copyrights of Users or third parties, as suitable.

CONTENT GUIDELINES

Published Works/Inputs uploaded on the Website/Application must:

  1. Not be objectionable or unlawful: Do not publish Published Works/Inputs which are grossly harmful, infringing, harassing, blasphemous defamatory, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, libelous, invasive of another’s privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically objectionable, disparaging, relating or encouraging money laundering or gambling, or otherwise unlawful in any manner whatsoever.
  2. Not be against national interest: Do not publish Published Works/Inputs that can threaten the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign states, or public order or causes incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence or prevents investigation of any offence or is insulting any other nation.
  3. Protect minors: Do not publish Published Works/Inputs which can harm minors in any way.
  4. Not be misleading/ offensive: Do not publish Published Works/Inputs which deceive or mislead a reader about the origin of the Content or communicates any information which is grossly offensive or menacing in nature.

SUSPENSION/TERMINATION

  1. Violation by User: Company shall have the right to suspend or terminate partially or fully the usage and access rights of the User to the Website/Application if there is any non-compliance with these Terms of Service and/or the Privacy Policy.

COMPANY AN INTERMEDIARY

  1. Users are in control of Published Works/Inputs: Company through its Website/Application receives, stores and transmits Published Works/Inputs solely on behalf of the Users. Users remain the sole authors and owners of their Published Works/Inputs. Further, Company does not control or restrict the publishing or reading of the Published Works/Inputs nor modifies the same prior to upload of the same on the Website/Application.
  2. Company an ‘intermediary’ and no liability: Company is an ‘intermediary’’ as defined under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and its Rules and is not responsible for the Published Works/Inputs uploaded on the Website/Application.
  3. Duty to act under law: Company, as an intermediary, has the duty to take necessary action against any Published Works/Inputs that violates the Information Technology Act, 2000 and its Rules which is brought to its notice and the User shall abide by such actions taken by the Company.

LIABILITY

  1. No warranty of any kind: All Services and Content offered on the Website/Application are offered on an “as is” basis without any warranty whatsoever, either express or implied. The Company/Website/Application does not implicitly or explicitly support or endorse any Content on the Website/Application. The Company/Website/Application does not warrant that the functions and Services contained in the Website/Application will be uninterrupted or error-free, or that the Website/Application or its server will be free of viruses or other harmful components, and the User hereby expressly accepts any and all associated risks involved with the User’s use of the Website/Application.
  2. User liable for breach: You are solely responsible to the Company and to any third party for any breach of Your obligations under the Terms of Service and for the consequences (including any loss or damage which the Company or its affiliates or its Users may suffer for any such breach).
  3. Indemnity: User shall indemnify and shall keep indemnified, save, defend and hold harmless the Company, its Affiliates and their respective directors, employees, successors and assigns from and against any and all losses, liabilities, expenses, damages (whether or not resulting from third party claims), arising from the Company’s legitimate use of any Published Works published on the Website/Application by the User and/or breach by the User of these Terms of Service or any other policies/guidelines issued by the Company from time-to-time. The Company reserves its right to defend itself in any such legal disputes that may arise, and recover the costs incurred in such proceedings from the User.
  4. No Indirect Liability: Company disclaims any and all special, incidental, indirect, consequential or punitive damages, losses costs towards any User or third party arising from the provision of Services or use of the Website/Application by others.

GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL

If any User is affected by any Content which violates these Term of Use, including the Content Guidelines, User can write their concerns at contact@aksharathalukal.in with the following details. Company shall resolve the concerns within fifteen (15) days.

  • The complainant’s name and contact details such as address, telephone number and valid email address
  • Description of the Content which are violating the Terms of Service
  • The nature of complaint against the Content
  • The details of the URL where such Content is hosted
  • Supporting documents/sources, if applicable, to substantiate the complaint
  • Complaint document to be duly signed physically or by electronic signature

MISCELLANEOUS

  1. Modification: The Company reserves the sole and exclusive right to unilaterally amend or modify these Terms of Service and such amendments or modifications shall come into effect immediately. The User has a duty to periodically check the terms and stay updated on its requirements. If the User continues to use the Website/Application following such a change, the User will be deemed to have consented to any and all amendments/modifications made to the Terms of Service.
  2. Disputes: The Users expressly agree that the Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and any other agreements entered between the Company and User(s) are governed by the laws, rules and regulations of India, and that the Courts at Bangalore shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any disputes arising between the Parties.
  3. Conflict: In case of any conflict arising in the interpretation of the Terms of Service in English and any other language as it may be made available in on the Website/Application, the terms of the English version shall prevail.
  4. Assignment: The rights and obligations under these Terms of Service are granted only to You and shall not be assigned to any third party without our consent. However, We are permitted to assign our rights and obligations under these Terms of Service to others. This can happen when, for example, We enter into a merger with another company and create a new company.
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