Terms of Service

1) Acceptance of terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of NobleID websites, resolvers, APIs, identity and claims, OAI-PMH, and the Update-Checker widget (collectively, the "Service"). By using the Service, you agree to these Terms and our posted policies, including the Privacy Policy and Policy Registry. If you use the Service on behalf of an organization, you represent you have authority to bind it, and "you" includes that organization.

2) What NobleID provides

NobleID issues persistent, human-readable identifiers for digital works with version history and cryptographic provenance, plus a privacy-respecting people identifier ("NobleID Person") for authorship claims and attestations. Resolver pages present metadata, versions, and citations. Optional features enable "Support the author" and licensing with configurable revenue splits.

3) Accounts, eligibility, and verification

You must be able to form a binding contract. Some features (publisher minting, API keys, value flows) may require verification, domain control checks, or additional terms. You are responsible for safeguarding credentials, keys, and tokens, and for actions under your account.

4) Eligibility and accounts

You must be able to form a binding contract to use the Service. Certain features (e.g., publisher minting, API keys, Support) may require verification or additional terms. You are responsible for the security of your account, keys, and sign-in methods, and for activity under them.

5) Publisher verification

Organizations that mint identifiers at scale may be asked to verify control of their domain, agree to content and metadata quality standards, and comply with rate limits and abuse prevention measures. We may suspend or revoke access that harms service integrity or violates these Terms.

6) Your content and your rights

You retain any rights you hold in the Works and metadata you submit. You are responsible for the accuracy, legality, and permissions of everything you submit or host via links (including PDFs, datasets, code, images, and licenses). By submitting or linking content or metadata to the Service, you grant NobleID a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, cache, mirror metadata, transform formats (e.g., to JSON-LD, CSL-JSON, BibTeX, RIS), display resolver pages, and make the metadata available for discovery and harvesting. You warrant that you have the rights necessary for us to do so.

If you upload files for public display or download, you grant NobleID the additional license necessary to host and display those files to end users consistent with your chosen license terms.

7) Metadata is public

Resolver pages and their structured metadata are public by design to enable discovery, citation, and preservation. Withdrawn or restricted items show a transparent tombstone explaining status without personal information.

8) Versioning and resolver behavior

Each Work has a root identifier that resolves to the latest version by default, and pinned version identifiers (v1…vN) that remain permanently citable. We emit KPRs for each version and may mirror metadata to an independent store for integrity. Optional public anchoring may publish non-reversible fingerprints of KPR batches; we do not place personal data in those fingerprints.

9) Prohibited content and conduct

You may not use the Service to:

• Violate laws or infringe intellectual property or privacy rights.
• Upload or link malware, exploits, or content that harms security or availability.
• Impersonate others or misrepresent authorship or affiliations.
• Submit unlawful or abusive content, including hate, harassment, or incitement.
• Collect, publish, or expose sensitive personal data without a lawful basis.
• Bypass rate limits, probe or attack the Service, or scrape in a way that degrades service.
• Circumvent resolver behavior, canonical URLs, or attribution requirements.

We may remove or disable access to content, suspend accounts, or take other actions to protect users and the Service.

10) Disputes, withdrawals, and moderation

Anyone may report a disputed item. During review, the resolver shows a banner. Outcomes may include restore, annotate, withdraw/tombstone, or block. Monetary flows tied to a disputed Work may be paused and held until resolution. We record a short audit line on outcomes. We may notify relevant parties and request evidence (e.g., publication records, authorship attestations, licenses).

11) Support, licensing, and payments (optional)

Support and licensing features are optional. Payments may be processed by third-party providers. You authorize us and our providers to process payments and to route declared revenue splits to recipients you designate. For crypto flows, we generate fresh or relayed receiving addresses per action and do not expose creators' base wallets. Transactions may be irreversible, subject to network fees and volatility. You are responsible for taxes, required disclosures, and compliance for your activities. We may hold funds during disputes and release them according to the outcome. Refunds, if any, follow the policy posted in the checkout or resolver context.

12) API and integrations

Use of the API, SDKs, OAI-PMH, and the Update-Checker widget is subject to technical documentation, rate limits, and these Terms. You will not attempt to disable or circumvent access controls, headers, or canonicalization; will not misuse keys; and will not use the Service to build a competing resolver that confuses users or undermines persistence and provenance. We may modify or discontinue endpoints with reasonable notice.

13) Intellectual property

The Service and its components are protected by intellectual property laws. Except for content you provide and open formats we publish, you may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, or lease any part of the Service, nor reverse engineer it, unless laws prohibit those restrictions or you have our written permission. You may reference resolver URLs and metadata for citation and indexing consistent with scholarly norms.

14) Third-party services

The Service may link to or integrate with third-party services (e.g., repositories, payment providers, mirror storage). Your use of those services is governed by their terms and policies. We are not responsible for third-party services.

15) Privacy

Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect and use information. By using the Service, you consent to our data practices described there.

16) Changes, availability, and support

We may change or discontinue features, impose or change limits, or update documentation. We aim for high availability but do not guarantee uninterrupted operation. We may make preview or beta features available with additional terms or limitations.

17) Termination

You may stop using the Service at any time. We may suspend or terminate access if you violate these Terms, create risk, or cause harm. On termination, public scholarly metadata and resolver tombstones may remain to preserve the scholarly record. Sections that by their nature should survive (including licenses granted to us for already-published metadata, disclaimers, limitations, and indemnities) will survive.

18) Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available." We do not warrant that it will be error-free, uninterrupted, or that results will meet your needs. We do not guarantee indexing, citation counts, or third-party acceptance of identifiers. You are responsible for your use and for verifying that licenses and rights are appropriate for your purposes.

19) Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, NobleID and its affiliates and suppliers will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenues, data, or goodwill, arising out of or related to your use of the Service. Our total liability for any claim is limited to the greater of (a) amounts you paid to us for the Service in the 12 months before the claim arose or (b) one hundred US dollars.

20) Indemnification

You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless NobleID and its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from or related to your content, your use of the Service, or your violation of these Terms or applicable law.

21) Governing law and venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Wyoming, without regard to conflict of laws principles. You agree to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the state and federal courts located in Wyoming for any dispute that is not subject to another dispute process required by law.

22) Copyright complaints

If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, contact us with a notice identifying the work claimed to be infringed, the allegedly infringing material, your contact information, and a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized. We may remove or disable access and, where appropriate, terminate repeat infringers.

23) Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will update the effective date above and post the new Terms. If a change is material, we will provide additional notice. Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

24) Contact

Questions about these Terms: info@nobleid.org