Terms

By visiting or using this web site, you are agreeing to be bound by these web site Terms and Conditions of Use, all applicable laws and regulations, and agree that you are responsible for compliance with any applicable local laws. If you do not agree with any of these terms, you are prohibited from using or accessing this site. The materials contained in this web site are protected by applicable copyright and trade mark law.

Service

These Terms of Service apply to all users of the Service, including users who are also contributors of Content on the Service. “Content” includes the text, graphics, photos, sounds, music, and other materials you may view on, access through, or contribute to the Service. The Service includes all aspects of Story Thyme, including but not limited to all products, software and services offered via the Story Thyme website.

The Service may contain links to third party websites that are not owned or controlled by Story Thyme. Story Thyme has no control over, and assumes no responsibility for, the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third party websites. In addition, Story Thyme will not and cannot censor or edit the content of any third-party site. By using the Service, you expressly relieve Story Thyme from any and all liability arising from your use of any third-party website.

Story Thyme Accounts

• In order to access some features of the Service, you will have to create a Story Thyme Account. You may never use another's account without permission. When creating your account, you agree that the information you provide to Story Thyme during Member registration and, at all other times, will be true, accurate, current and complete. You are solely responsible for the activity that occurs on your account, and you must keep your account password secure. You must notify Story Thyme immediately of any breach of security or unauthorized use of your account.
• Although Story Thyme will not be liable for your losses caused by any unauthorized use of your account, you may be liable for the losses of Story Thyme or others due to such unauthorized use.

General Use of the Service

Story Thyme hereby grants you permission to access and use the Service as set forth in these Terms of Service, provided that:

• You agree not to distribute in any medium any part of the Service or the Content without Story Thyme's prior written authorization, unless Story Thyme makes available the means for such distribution through functionality offered by the Service.
• You agree not to alter or modify any part of the Service.
• You agree not to access Content through any technology or means other than the visual novel play pages of the Service itself, or other explicitly authorized means Story Thyme may designate.
• You agree not to use the Service for any of the following commercial uses unless you obtain Story Thyme's prior written approval:
  • the sale of access to the Service;
  • the sale of advertising, sponsorships, or promotions placed on or within the Service or Content;
• Prohibited commercial uses do not include:
  • uploading an original visual novel to Story Thyme to promote your business or artistic enterprise;
  • any use that Story Thyme expressly authorizes in writing.

Your Use of Content

In addition to the general restrictions above, the following restrictions and conditions apply specifically to your use of Content.

• The Content on the Service, and the trademarks, service marks and logos ("Marks") on the Service, are owned by or licensed to Story Thyme, subject to copyright and other intellectual property rights under the law.
• Content is provided to you AS IS. You may access Content for your information and personal use solely as intended through the provided functionality of the Service and as permitted under these Terms of Service. You shall not download any Content unless you see a “download” or similar link displayed by Story Thyme on the Service for that Content. You shall not copy, reproduce, distribute, transmit, broadcast, display, sell, license, or otherwise exploit any Content for any other purposes without the prior written consent of Story Thyme or the respective licensors of the Content. Story Thyme and its licensors reserve all rights not expressly granted in and to the Service and the Content.
• You understand that when using the Service, you will be exposed to Content from a variety of sources, and that Story Thyme is not responsible for the accuracy, usefulness, safety, or intellectual property rights of or relating to such Content. You further understand and acknowledge that you may be exposed to Content that is inaccurate, offensive, indecent, or objectionable, and you agree to waive, and hereby do waive, any legal or equitable rights or remedies you have or may have against Story Thyme with respect thereto, and, to the extent permitted by applicable law, agree to indemnify and hold harmless Story Thyme, its owners, operators, affiliates, licensors, and licensees to the fullest extent allowed by law regarding all matters related to your use of the Service.

Your Content and Conduct

• As a Story Thyme account holder you may submit Content to the Service, including visual novels. You understand that Story Thyme does not guarantee any confidentiality with respect to any Content you submit.
• You shall be solely responsible for your own Content and the consequences of submitting and publishing your Content on the Service. You affirm, represent, and warrant that you own or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents, and permissions to publish Content you submit.
• You retain all of your ownership rights in your Content. However, by submitting Content to Story Thyme, you hereby grant Story Thyme a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the Content in connection with the Service and Story Thyme's (and its successors and affiliates) business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the Service (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels. You also hereby grant each user of the Service a non-exclusive license to access your Content through the Service. The above licenses granted by you in visual novel Content you submit to the Service terminate within a commercially reasonable time after you remove or delete your visual novel from the Service. You understand and agree, however, that Story Thyme may retain, but not display, distribute, or perform, server copies of your visual novel that have been removed or deleted. The above licenses granted by you in user comments you submit are perpetual and irrevocable.
• By donating your Content to Story Thyme, you forfeit your ownership rights to the Content and transfer them to Story Thyme. Story Thyme will not reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, or display the Content outside of Story Thyme.
• You further agree that you will not submit to the Service any Content or other material that is contrary to the Submission Guidelines, as stated in the following:
  • Your work may not be racist, homophobic, hateful or illegal.
  • Your submitted work may not be incomplete or created blatantly from a tutorial.
  • Story Thyme is not a website for pornography or sexually explicit context. If this describes your visual novel, you MUST set your visual novel maturity rating to 'mature' on publishing to Story Thyme. This includes Hentai, Eroge, Yaoi, etc.
  • If your visual novel contains graphic or gratuitous violence, you must also set the maturity rating of your visual novel to 'mature' in its settings.
• Story Thyme does not endorse any Content submitted to the Service by any user or other licensor, or any opinion, recommendation, or advice expressed therein, and Story Thyme expressly disclaims any and all liability in connection with Content. Story Thyme does not permit copyright infringing activities and infringement of intellectual property rights on the Service, and Story Thyme will remove all Content if properly notified that such Content infringes on another's intellectual property rights. Story Thyme reserves the right to remove Content without prior notice.
• Story Thyme reserves the right to decide whether Content violates these Terms of Service and Submission Guidelines for reasons other than copyright infringement, such as, but not limited to, pornography, obscenity, or excessive length. Story Thyme may at any time, without prior notice and in its sole discretion, remove such Content and/or terminate a user's account for submitting such material in violation of these Terms of Service.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act

If you are a copyright owner or an agent thereof and believe that any Content infringes upon your copyrights, you may submit a notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") by contacting us via storythyme@outlook.com with the following:

• A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
• Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed.
• 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 the law.
• A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

If you believe your Content has been wrongfully removed, you may submit a counter-notice by contacting us via storythyme@outlook.com with the following:

• Your physical or electronic signature.
• Identification of the Content that has been removed.
• A statement that you have a good faith belief that the Content was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or a misidentification of the Content.

Prohibited Uses

You agree that you will not use any robot, spider, scraper, or other automated means to access Story Thyme for any purpose without our express written permission or bypass our robot exclusion headers or other measures we may use to prevent or restrict access to Story Thyme. As a condition of your use of Story Thyme, you will not use Story Thyme for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms. You may not use Story Thyme in any manner that in our sole discretion could damage, disable, overburden, or impair it or interfere with any other party's use and enjoyment of Story Thyme. You may not attempt to gain unauthorized access to Story Thyme, or any part of them, other accounts, computer systems or networks connected to Story Thyme, or any part of them, through hacking, password mining or any other means or interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of Story Thyme or any activities conducted on Story Thyme. You may not obtain or attempt to obtain any materials or information through any means not intentionally made available through Story Thyme. You agree neither to modify Story Thyme in any manner or form, nor to use modified versions of Story Thyme, including (without limitation) for the purpose of obtaining unauthorized access to Story Thyme or transfer the materials on Story Thyme to another person or "mirror" the materials on any other server.

Disclaimer

The materials on Story Thyme's web site are provided "as is". Story Thyme makes no warranties, expressed or implied, and hereby disclaims and negates all other warranties, including without limitation, implied warranties or conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement of intellectual property or other violation of rights. Further, Story Thyme does not warrant or make any representations concerning the accuracy, likely results, or reliability of the use of the materials on its Internet web site or otherwise relating to such materials or on any sites linked to this site.

Revisions and Errata

The materials appearing on Story Thyme's web site could include technical, typographical, or photographic errors. Story Thyme does not warrant that any of the materials on its web site are accurate, complete, or current. Story Thyme may make changes to the materials contained on its web site at any time without notice. Story Thyme does not, however, make any commitment to update the materials.

Third-Party Sites, Products and Services; Links

Story Thyme has not reviewed all of the sites linked to its Internet web site and is not responsible for the contents of any such linked site. The inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by Story Thyme of the site. Use of any such linked web site is at the user's own risk. Your correspondence or business dealings with, or participation in promotions of, advertisers found on or through Story Thyme are solely between you and such advertiser. You agree that Story Thyme will not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings or as the result of the presence of such advertisers on Story Thyme.

Eligibility

You affirm that you are either more than 18 years of age, or an emancipated minor, or possess legal parental or guardian consent, and are fully able and competent to enter into the terms, conditions, obligations, affirmations, representations, and warranties set forth in these Terms of Service, and to abide by and comply with these Terms of Service. In any case, you affirm that you are over the age of 13, as the Service is not intended for children under 13. If you are under 13 years of age, then please do not use the Service.

Violations

You agree that Story Thyme, in its sole discretion and for any or no reason, may terminate any account (or any part thereof) you may have with Story Thyme or your use of Story Thyme and remove and discard all or any part of your uploaded account Content at any time.

Site Terms of Use Modifications

Story Thyme may revise these terms of use for its web site at any time without notice. By using this web site you are agreeing to be bound by the then current version of these Terms and Conditions of Use.

Governing Law

Any claim relating to Story Thyme's web site shall be governed by the laws of the State of New York without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

General Terms and Conditions applicable to Use of a Web Site.