# Terms of Service — Quantum Discord **Effective Date:** [DATE] **Last Updated:** [DATE] **Version:** 1.0 > ⚠️ **Before publishing:** This is a structured first draft, not legal advice. Have a lawyer review it — particularly Sections 7 (Payment/Future Services), 10 (Disclaimers & Liability), and 13 (Governing Law/Dispute Resolution) — before publishing. Fill in all [BRACKETS]. --- ## 1. Acceptance of Terms By creating an account, accessing, or using Quantum Discord (the "**Service**"), operated by [LEGAL ENTITY NAME] ("**Company**," "**we**," "**us**"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("**Terms**") and our [Privacy Policy](./PRIVACY_POLICY.md), incorporated by reference. If you do not agree, do not use the Service. If you are using the Service on behalf of an organization (e.g., a school, employer, or team), you represent that you have authority to bind that organization to these Terms. --- ## 2. Eligibility - You must be at least [13/16] years old to create an account. - Users under 18 should have parent/guardian awareness of their use of the Service, consistent with our Privacy Policy. - You must provide accurate registration information and keep it up to date. - You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity under your account. --- ## 3. The Service Quantum Discord provides quantum computing education content, including but not limited to: structured learning modules, interactive simulations, a browser-based Coding Lab for executing quantum computing code (currently via Qiskit in a sandboxed environment), assessments, and (currently or in future) live workshops. We may add, modify, or discontinue features at our discretion. We will make reasonable efforts to notify users of material changes that affect their use of paid features. --- ## 4. Accounts - One account per person unless otherwise authorized (e.g., organizational/team accounts, if offered in future). - You may not share credentials, sell, transfer, or permit unauthorized use of your account. - We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, are inactive for an extended period, or pose a security risk, with notice where practicable. - You may delete your account at any time via [account settings / by emailing SUPPORT_EMAIL]; see our Privacy Policy for what happens to your data afterward. --- ## 5. Acceptable Use You agree **not** to: - Use the Service for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any applicable law or regulation. - Submit, upload, or execute code intended to: attack, disrupt, or gain unauthorized access to our infrastructure or any third-party system; mine cryptocurrency or perform other unrelated compute-intensive tasks using our sandbox resources; exfiltrate data from, or attack, the sandbox environment ("sandbox escape" attempts); or otherwise abuse compute, storage, or network resources beyond intended educational use. - Reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code from the Service, except as permitted by open-source licenses governing our published repositories. - Scrape, crawl, or systematically extract Content from the Service without our written permission, other than standard search-engine indexing. - Impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation. - Upload malware, or Content that is defamatory, harassing, hateful, obscene, or infringes another's intellectual property or privacy rights. - Circumvent usage limits, paywalls (current or future), or access controls. - Use the Service to develop a directly competing product using our proprietary curriculum, simulations, or assessment content without authorization. - Use automated tools, bots, or AI agents to scrape, crawl, or bulk-extract Content (including curriculum text, simulations, or workshop recordings) beyond standard search-engine indexing. - Use our curriculum, simulations, assessments, or workshop recordings to train, fine-tune, or evaluate any machine learning or AI model, without our prior written permission. - Redistribute, re-upload, publicly broadcast, or make available workshop recordings or other proprietary video content outside the Service, without our prior written permission. We reserve the right to investigate suspected violations and take appropriate action, including suspension, termination, and — where warranted — referral to law enforcement. ### 5.1 Academic Integrity If you use Quantum Discord in connection with a school, university, or other academic program, you agree to: - Complete assessments using your own understanding and work, rather than submitting AI-generated or third-party answers as your own. - Not share assessment answers, solutions, or completion shortcuts with other users in a way intended to circumvent genuine learning. - Not misrepresent a certificate or badge as evidence of skills or completion you did not genuinely achieve. We reserve the right to revoke certificates or badges, and to suspend accounts, where we determine, in our reasonable judgment, that they were obtained through academic dishonesty. --- ## 6. Intellectual Property ### 6.1 Our Content All course material, curriculum design, text, simulations, graphics, the Quantum Discord name and logo, and underlying software (except open-source components released separately, e.g., under our GitHub organization `thequantumdiscord`) are owned by the Company or its licensors and protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. "Quantum Discord" and associated marks are trademarks of the Company [— trademark registration pending/granted]. Protected material includes, without limitation: curriculum design and content, interactive simulations, animations, assessments and question banks, learning pathways and module sequencing, workshop recordings, illustrations and diagrams, and product documentation. Subject to your compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Content for your personal, non-commercial educational purposes. ### 6.2 Reverse Engineering of Simulations You may not clone, copy, decompile, reverse-engineer, or otherwise attempt to recreate the underlying logic, source code, or design of our interactive simulations, whether for personal use, redistribution, or use in a competing product, except to the extent such restriction is prohibited by applicable law. ### 6.3 Curriculum and Teaching Methodology — Contractual Restriction Copyright protects the specific expression of our curriculum (our text, diagrams, and recorded content), not underlying ideas or teaching methods in the abstract. However, by agreeing to these Terms, you separately agree, as a contractual matter (independent of copyright law), not to reproduce substantial portions of our curriculum structure, lesson sequencing, analogies, presentation flow, or assessment design for use in a commercial educational product, without our prior written permission. This restriction binds you as a user of the Service; it does not, and is not intended to, restrict independent development of similar educational content by parties who have not agreed to these Terms. ### 6.4 Open-Source Components Certain code we publish (e.g., in our public GitHub repositories) is released under separate open-source licenses, which govern that code independent of these Terms. Where a conflict exists, the applicable open-source license controls for that specific code. **For clarity: the fact that our platform code (or parts of it) may be open source does not mean our curriculum, assessments, simulations, or other educational Content is open source or freely licensed** — those remain proprietary unless a specific work is expressly released under a stated open-source or Creative Commons license. ### 6.5 Your Content You retain ownership of code, forum posts, and other content you submit ("**User Content**"). By submitting User Content, you grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to host, store, display, and process it as necessary to operate and improve the Service (e.g., displaying your code output back to you, aggregate/anonymized analysis of common errors to improve curriculum). We will not use identifiable User Content for marketing without your separate consent. **You remain solely responsible for the code and other content you submit or execute through the Service.** We do not review submitted code for correctness, safety, or legality before execution, and we do not claim ownership of executable code you write. You are responsible for ensuring your code does not infringe third-party rights or violate Section 5 (Acceptable Use). ### 6.6 Feedback If you provide suggestions or feedback about the Service, you grant us an unrestricted, royalty-free license to use it without obligation to you. ### 6.7 Copyright Complaints If you believe Content on the Service infringes your copyright, contact [COPYRIGHT_EMAIL] with: identification of the work, the allegedly infringing material and its location, your contact details, and a good-faith statement of infringement. We will respond consistent with applicable law (e.g., India's Copyright Act, 1957, and, if applicable, the US DMCA for US-hosted content). --- ## 7. Payment Terms (Current & Future Services) *This section is written to apply automatically as paid features launch, without requiring a full Terms rewrite.* - **Current free access:** [Describe current free-access model, e.g., "the Foundation Track is currently offered free of charge for a 60-day introductory period" — adjust to your actual current offer]. - **Future paid tiers:** Where we introduce paid subscriptions, one-time purchases, or enterprise pricing, the specific price, billing cycle, and cancellation terms will be disclosed at the point of purchase and are incorporated into these Terms by reference. - **Billing:** Payments will be processed by a third-party payment processor; we do not store full payment card details. - **Refunds:** [Define refund policy — e.g., "prorated refunds within 7 days of a new paid-plan purchase" — or "no refunds except as required by law"]. - **Price changes:** We will provide at least [30] days' notice before a price increase affects an existing subscriber's renewal. - **Taxes:** Prices are exclusive of applicable taxes (e.g., GST) unless stated otherwise; you are responsible for any taxes applicable to your purchase. --- ## 8. Certificates & Badges Completion certificates or badges issued through the Service reflect completion of specific modules or assessments as defined by us and do not constitute an accredited degree, diploma, or professional certification unless explicitly stated. Certificates demonstrate completion of Quantum Discord's own learning requirements and are not academic degrees or government-recognized qualifications unless expressly stated. We may revise assessment criteria over time; certificates issued reflect the standard in effect at the time of issuance. Certificates and badges obtained through academic dishonesty (see Section 5.1) may be revoked at our discretion. ## 9. Live Workshops Where the Service includes live workshops or sessions: - **Recording:** Workshops may be recorded, and recordings (including audio, video, screen-share, and chat messages) may be reused for educational, marketing, or archival purposes. By joining a live workshop, you consent to being recorded as part of that session. If you do not wish to appear on camera or have your name displayed, you may keep your camera off and use a display name that does not identify you, where the platform allows. - **Conduct:** Participants must behave respectfully — no harassment, hate speech, discriminatory remarks, or disruptive behavior. Instructors and moderators may mute, remove, or ban participants who violate this standard, without refund where applicable. - **Availability:** Live sessions are offered on a best-effort basis and may be rescheduled, shortened, or cancelled due to instructor availability or technical issues. ## 10. Community Features (Forums, Comments, and Similar) Where the Service includes forums, comments, or similar community features (current or future), you agree not to post spam, abusive or hateful language, plagiarized content, or content that is illegal or infringes third-party rights. We may moderate, remove content, or suspend accounts that violate this standard. A more detailed Code of Conduct / Community Guidelines document may be published separately as these features launch, and will supplement these Terms. ## 11. Future Hardware Access If we offer access to physical or cloud-based quantum computing hardware (in addition to simulation), such access will be subject to usage quotas, fair-use limits, and queue/scheduling policies disclosed at the time of launch, which are incorporated into these Terms by reference. --- ## 12. AI-Powered Features Some features (code feedback, hints, explanations, a chatbot, or similar, current or future) may use AI systems to generate output. AI-generated content may contain inaccuracies and should be independently verified — particularly before relying on it for graded work, safety-relevant decisions, or professional use. Using an AI-powered feature to generate an assessment answer and submitting it as your own original work is a violation of Section 5.1 (Academic Integrity). ## 13. Third-Party Services & Links The Service may link to or integrate with third-party services (e.g., GitHub, payment processors, video hosting). We are not responsible for the content, policies, or practices of third-party services. Your use of them is governed by their own terms. --- ## 14. Disclaimers THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE. Educational content is provided for learning purposes. While we strive for technical and pedagogical accuracy, we do not guarantee that all Content is error-free, and we encourage learners to verify critical information against primary academic sources (e.g., Nielsen & Chuang, peer-reviewed literature) for research or professional purposes. The Coding Lab sandbox executes user-submitted code on a best-effort basis; we do not guarantee availability, execution speed, or that results are free from simulator/hardware limitations inherent to quantum computing simulation. --- ## 15. Limitation of Liability TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE COMPANY, ITS FOUNDERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AFFILIATES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, OR GOODWILL, ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING FROM THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM, OR (B) [₹5,000 / A NOMINAL AMOUNT TO BE SET WITH COUNSEL], FOR USERS ON THE FREE TIER. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages, so some of the above limitations may not apply to you. --- ## 16. Indemnification You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Company and its founders, employees, and affiliates from any claims, damages, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from: (a) your violation of these Terms; (b) your User Content; or (c) your misuse of the Service, including any Acceptable Use violations under Section 5. --- ## 17. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution These Terms are governed by the laws of India, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Subject to Section 17.1, courts at [BENGALURU / KARNATAKA] shall have exclusive jurisdiction. ### 17.1 Dispute Resolution *(optional — confirm approach with counsel)* Before initiating formal proceedings, you agree to first contact us at [SUPPORT_EMAIL] to attempt informal resolution. [If arbitration is desired: "Any dispute not resolved informally within 30 days shall be referred to arbitration under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, seated in [CITY], in English, before a sole arbitrator."] ### 17.2 International Users If you access the Service from outside India, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws. We make no representation that the Service is appropriate or available for use in all locations. --- ## 18. Termination We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice, including for violation of these Terms. You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (Intellectual Property, Disclaimers, Limitation of Liability, Indemnification, Governing Law) will survive. --- ## 19. Changes to These Terms We may modify these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be notified via email or in-app notice at least [14] days before taking effect. Continued use after changes take effect constitutes acceptance. If you do not agree to updated Terms, you must stop using the Service and may delete your account. --- ## 20. Future Services (Forward-Compatibility Clause) These Terms are drafted to extend automatically to new features and offerings, including but not limited to: paid subscription tiers, enterprise/team accounts, mobile applications, API access, physical or cloud-based quantum hardware access, referral/affiliate programs, community/forum features, and third-party integrations. Where a new feature requires materially different terms (e.g., a distinct Enterprise Agreement), we will present those terms separately, and they will supplement (not replace) these Terms unless explicitly stated. --- ## 21. Miscellaneous - **Entire Agreement:** These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any feature-specific terms, constitute the entire agreement between you and the Company regarding the Service. - **Severability:** If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full effect. - **No Waiver:** Our failure to enforce any right or provision is not a waiver of that right. - **Assignment:** You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. - **Force Majeure:** We are not liable for delays or failures due to causes beyond our reasonable control. --- ## 22. Contact Us **General inquiries:** [SUPPORT_EMAIL] **Legal notices:** [LEGAL_EMAIL] **Postal address:** [REGISTERED ADDRESS] --- *These Terms should be read together with our [Privacy Policy](./PRIVACY_POLICY.md).* **Planned companion documents (to be published as relevant features launch):** Acceptable Use Policy (standalone, expanded), Copyright/DMCA Notice Policy, Refund Policy, Community Guidelines / Code of Conduct, Instructor Agreement (once instructors are onboarded), Enterprise Terms and Data Processing Agreement (for institutional/school customers).