Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using PlantRef ("the Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you disagree with any part of these terms, you may not access the Service.

2. Description of Service

PlantRef is an educational platform that provides plant identification and learning tools through flashcards, quizzes, and interactive content. The Service is designed to help users learn about plants and botany.

3. User Accounts

Account Creation

You may create an account to access additional features. You are responsible for:

• Providing accurate and complete information
• Maintaining the security of your account
• All activities that occur under your account
• Notifying us of any unauthorized use

Account Termination

We may terminate or suspend your account at any time for violations of these Terms or for any other reason at our sole discretion.

4. Content and Intellectual Property

Image Uploads and Ownership

When you upload images to our platform:

• You transfer full ownership of the images to PlantRef
• PlantRef becomes the sole owner of all rights to the images
• You waive any moral rights or attribution rights you may have
• PlantRef may use, modify, distribute, sell, or license the images without restriction
• You cannot revoke this transfer of rights
• You warrant that you have the legal right to transfer ownership of the images
• You agree to indemnify PlantRef against any claims related to the images

To the extent that, under applicable law, full ownership cannot be transferred, you instead grant PlantRef a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, fully paid-up, transferable, and sublicensable license (through multiple tiers) to use the images for any purpose described in these Terms, including those listed below. This license survives termination of your account and deletion of the underlying image from your user-facing library.

Commercial and Downstream Uses (Including API Access and Data Licensing)

Without limiting the general grant above, the rights you transfer (or license) to PlantRef expressly include the right to:

• Sell or license access to the images via an application programming interface (API), feed, bulk download, or any other technical means, on a paid, subscription, or other commercial basis, to any third party (including businesses, researchers, developers, publishers, educational institutions, and government entities);
• Include the images in datasets, corpora, image libraries, or stock collections that PlantRef offers, sells, or licenses to third parties;
• Use the images, and permit third parties to use the images, to train, fine-tune, evaluate, benchmark, or otherwise develop machine-learning models, artificial intelligence systems, plant-identification systems, and other algorithmic systems, whether developed by PlantRef or by third parties;
• Sublicense any of the foregoing rights to third parties on terms PlantRef determines in its sole discretion, including on a perpetual or irrevocable basis, and including the right of those third parties to further sublicense;
• Combine the images with metadata (such as species, location category, growth stage, or other plant characteristics) and license the resulting combined data;
• Crop, resize, watermark, color-correct, annotate, label, segment, or otherwise modify or create derivative works from the images for any of the purposes above;
• Continue to exercise all of the above rights with respect to any image even after you delete it from your account, close your account, or stop using the Service.

No additional consent, notice, attribution, or compensation is required for any of the uses described in this section. You acknowledge that PlantRef may invest significant resources in building products and offerings (including paid API products and datasets) in reliance on this grant.

Privacy of Uploaded Images

You are responsible for ensuring that images you upload do not contain personally identifying information of other people, private property identifiers, or any other content you do not have the right to share. Do not upload images you would not be comfortable having distributed or licensed commercially. See our Privacy Policy for details on how account information is handled.

Platform Content

All content provided by PlantRef, including but not limited to text, graphics, logos, and software, is the property of PlantRef and is protected by intellectual property laws.

5. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Upload content that is illegal, harmful, or offensive
• Upload images you do not have the right to transfer
• Interfere with or disrupt the Service
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service
• Use the Service for any commercial purpose without permission
• Upload malware, viruses, or other harmful code
• Harass, abuse, or harm other users

6. Educational Use

PlantRef is designed for educational purposes. Educational institutions may use the Service for their students under the following conditions:

• Students must comply with these Terms
• Institutions are responsible for their students' use
• All uploaded content becomes property of PlantRef
• PlantRef may use student-generated content for educational purposes

7. Privacy

Your privacy is important to us. Please review our Privacy Policy, which explains how we collect, use, and protect your information.

8. Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. We do not guarantee:

• The accuracy of plant identification or information
• Uninterrupted or error-free operation
• That the Service will meet your specific needs
• The security of your data

9. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, PlantRef shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including but not limited to loss of profits, data, or use.

10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless PlantRef from any claims, damages, or expenses arising from:

• Your use of the Service
• Your violation of these Terms
• Your uploaded content
• Your violation of any third-party rights

11. Changes to Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. We will notify users of material changes by posting the updated Terms on this page. Your continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance of the new Terms.

12. Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the jurisdiction where PlantRef is operated, without regard to conflict of law principles.

13. Contact Information

If you have questions about these Terms, please contact us at: