These Terms govern your (the words ‘you’ and your’ represent the entity agreeing to the Terms) access to and use of the websites, mobile applications, and other online products and services (collectively, the “Services”) provided by The Heritage Lab (“THL” or “we”). By clicking your consent (e.g., “Continue,” “Sign-in,” or “Sign-up”) or using our Services, you agree to these Terms, including the disputes, applicable laws and jurisdiction clauses.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect and use your information, and our Rules outline your responsibilities when using our Services. By using our Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms and our Rules. Please review our Privacy Policy for further information.

Your Account and Responsibilities

You are responsible for your use of the Services and any content you provide, including compliance with applicable laws.

You may need  to register for an account to access, in part or the complete package of our Services. Keep your account protected by keeping your password safe and secure and keeping your account information updated. We recommend not sharing your password with others.

You warrant that the individual acting on your behalf and accepting these Terms and using the Services on your behalf, is duly authorized to do so.

User Content on the Services

THL reserves the right to evaluate your content for compliance with these Terms and our Rules and  retains the authority to remove any content that violates them.

THL reserves the right to delete or disable content alleged to infringe the intellectual property rights of others. 

THL reserves the right to remove content that is harmful / offensive to members of its community. 

Rights and Ownership

You maintain ownership of any content you submit, post, or display on or through our Services.

To enable THL to share the content submitted by you via excerpts on homepage, newsletters, Social media posts etc. and to promote your content or to display images submitted by you with modifications, and to display your content on different devices and channels you must grant THL  a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully paid, and sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, publicly perform, and display your content and any name, username, or likeness provided in connection with your content in all media formats and distribution methods now known or later developed on the Services.  By submitting, posting, or displaying content on or through our Services, you grant THL the above rights.

You may choose to license your content using Creative Commons (CC) licenses. In case you decide you use a CC license, the same needs to be mentioned at the time of submission of your content – this can be done by indicating the type of license you desire to use at the end of an article for instance. We encourage you to go through the CC licensing guide.

Subject to compliance with these Terms, THL grants you a limited, non-exclusive, and non-transferable license to access and use our Services.

Our Services are protected by Indian and foreign copyright, trademark, and other laws. These Terms do not confer any rights, titles, or interests in the Services, THL trademarks, logos, or other brand features upon you.

In addition to the content you submit, post, or display on our Services, we welcome feedback, including comments, ideas, and suggestions about our Services. We may utilize this feedback at our discretion, without any obligation to you. We may treat feedback as non-confidential.

For free users, we may discontinue providing the Services or any features at our discretion. We also reserve the right to impose limits on usage and storage and may restrict or cease distribution of content on the Services.

Communication 

THL shall communicate with its users via email primarily. Each user shall indicate/ specify an email address at the time of registration with THL, and the same shall be taken as the official email address and official communication channel for communicating all information, notices, updates etc. 

Termination

You have the freedom to cease using our Services at any time. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate access to the Services, with or without notice to free users. For paid plan users, we reserve the right to refuse renewal after the paid plan period has ended.

Indemnification

As a user (whether individual or institutional) who avails of services offered by THL as a medium to reach readers and general public, you agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless THL and it’s officers, directors, agents, partners, and employees from any claims, losses , liabilities, demands, damages, expenses, or costs arising out of violation, misappropriation, or infringement of any rights of another (including intellectual property rights or privacy rights) or your breach of the law incurred/ affected by you in the course of publishing various types of content by availing the said services offered by THL.

Disclaimers — Service “As Is”

THL will strive to provide uninterrupted services, but there may be periods of disruption due to various reasons and circumstances. We therefore provide no guarantee to our Free users regarding website downtime and other such events (e.g. non functioning of certain features) which may cause disruption in the display or usability of content to the general public. We also strive to publish original content from our users and make sincere efforts to ensure that the same has not been copied or plagiarized by third parties. We report such incidents promptly upon gaining knowledge of the same, to the platforms where the plagiarized content is hosted, however THL cannot guarantee non-infringement by third parties of the content posted and published by our users.

Dispute Resolution / applicable laws

THL would prefer to resolve any conflict or claim through consultation, communication and amicable means without resorting to formal legal proceedings. Any and all disputes arising out of the agreement that these Terms of Service constitute shall be subject to the Laws in force in the territory of India, and subject to the jurisdiction of Courts of the place of registration/ incorporation/ registered address of THL. No part of this clause shall constitute an arbitration clause or deem to lay down a process to be initiated/followed before filing of legal proceedings in a Court of Law.

Amendments

From time to time, we may update these Terms. If we do, we will notify you by emailing the email address linked to your account, or updating the date at the top of the Terms. Unless specified otherwise in the notice, the updated Terms will take effect immediately. By continuing to use our Services after receiving notice, you agree to the updated Terms. If you disagree with the new Terms, you must discontinue using our Services.

Severability

Should any provision or portion of these Terms be found unlawful, void, or unenforceable, that part will be considered separate from the rest of the Terms, which will remain valid and enforceable.

Additional clause – Government users

If you are an institute or a body corporate or an entity which is affiliated to the government (meaning to include Central and State Government) or funded by the government in part or full, agreeing to these terms and conditions in no way means that THL endorses you or the government and vice versa, nor does this create any relationship of agency or employment or service. No rights of representation pass on to either party. Neither you nor the government body/ ministry shall represent THL in any form and shall not use THL’s logo or identity or name in any advertisement or promotion etc. unless agreed to separately.