1. Acceptance of These Terms

Welcome to Under the Hedge ("we," "us," or "our"). These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your access to and use of our website https://www.underthehedge.com/, including all content, features, and services offered (collectively, the "Service").

By creating an account or by accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not access or use the Service.

2. Eligibility (Age Requirement)

You must be at least 16 years old to create an account and use the Service. By creating an account, you represent and warrant that you meet this age requirement. If we learn you are under this age, we will terminate your account.

3. User Accounts

Account Creation: You must provide accurate and complete information (such as a username and email address) to create an account.

Account Security: You are responsible for safeguarding your password and for all activities that occur under your account. You must notify us immediately at hedgehog@underthehedge.com of any unauthorized use of your account.

Account Conduct: You agree not to impersonate any person or entity or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity.

4. User-Generated Content (UGC)

You are solely responsible for the content you upload, post, or share on the Service, including photos, videos, text descriptions, location data, and comments ("User Content").

A. Ownership

You retain all ownership rights to your User Content. We do not claim any ownership of your content.

B. License You Grant to Us

To operate and provide the Service, you must grant us certain legal permissions. When you post User Content to the Service, you grant Under the Hedge a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license to use, host, store, reproduce, display, publish, modify (e.g., to reformat for display), distribute, and create derivative works from your User Content.

This license is for the limited purposes of:

• Operating and Improving the Service: Displaying your encounters on the site, sharing them with other users, and developing new features.
• Fulfilling Our Mission: Using, sharing, or distributing your User Content (including associated location data) with third-party partners (such as research institutions, universities, and conservation organizations) for biodiversity research, scientific study, and conservation purposes.
• Promotion: Using your User Content to promote the Service (e.g., in social media posts or case studies).

This license ends when your User Content is deleted from our systems, either by you or by us, except to the extent your content was shared with others (e.g., in research databases or in re-shares by other users) and they have not deleted it.

5. Community Guidelines (Acceptable Use)

You agree not to use the Service to post any User Content or engage in any activity that:

• Is illegal, harassing, hateful, defamatory, obscene, or threatening.
• Infringes on any third party's intellectual property rights, including copyright, trademark, or privacy rights.
• Is "spam," unauthorized advertising, or any other form of commercial solicitation.
• Is intentionally false or misleading.
• Contains software viruses or any other harmful code.
• Attempts to harm, disrupt, or gain unauthorized access to our servers, network, or other users' accounts.
• Involves harvesting data from the Service (e.g., scraping) without our prior written consent.
• Is not related to wildlife or nature encounters, as determined in our sole discretion.

We reserve the right to remove any User Content and terminate any account that violates these rules.

6. Copyright Policy (DMCA)

We respect the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that your copyrighted work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement and is accessible on the Service, please notify our designated Copyright Agent.

In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), your notice must include:

• A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act on their behalf.
• Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed.
• Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing, with information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material.
• Your contact information (address, telephone number, and email address).
• A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the use of the material is not authorized by the copyright owner.
• 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 copyright owner.

Our designated Copyright Agent can be reached through the site's contact form.

We reserve the right to remove User Content alleged to be infringing without prior notice and to terminate the accounts of repeat infringers.

7. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time, for any reason or no reason, without prior notice or liability. This includes, but is not limited to, a breach of these Terms.

Upon termination, your right to use the Service will immediately cease. All provisions of these Terms which by their nature should survive termination (including, without limitation, ownership provisions, license grants, warranty disclaimers, and limitations of liability) shall survive.

8. Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability

Please read this section carefully.

"As Is" Service: The Service is provided on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis. We make no warranties (express or implied) regarding the Service, including but not limited to its accuracy, reliability, or availability.

User Content: We do not endorse, support, or guarantee the completeness, truthfulness, accuracy, or reliability of any User Content posted on the Service. You use and rely on any User Content at your own risk.

Limitation of Liability: TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL UNDER THE HEDGE (OR ITS DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS) BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS OR REVENUES, WHETHER INCURRED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, OR ANY LOSS OF DATA, USE, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, RESULTING FROM (A) YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE; (B) ANY USER CONTENT; (C) ANY UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OF OUR SERVERS.

9. Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed by the laws of our jurisdiction, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

10. Changes to These Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. We will provide notice of significant changes by posting the new Terms on this page and updating the "Last updated" date. Your continued use of the Service after such changes constitutes your acceptance of the new Terms.

11. Contact Us

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us using the site's contact form.