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Terms of Service

These Terms of Service are effective as of October 30, 2009, and were last updated on May 4, 2012.

Leanpub ("Leanpub") is a service of Ruboss Technology Corporation ("Ruboss"), a corporation incorporated in British Columbia, Canada.

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") govern your access to and use of the Leanpub websites, public APIs and client software (the "Site" or "Services"), and any information, text, graphics, or other materials uploaded, downloaded or appearing on the Services, including without limitation PDFs and other formats of e-books available for sale on the Site (collectively referred to as the "Content"). Your access to and use of the Services is conditioned on your acceptance of, and compliance with, these Terms. By accessing or using the Services you agree to be bound by these Terms.

1. Basic Terms

You are responsible for your use of the Services, for any Content you post to the Services, and for any consequences thereof. The Content you submit, post, or display will be able to be viewed by other users of the Services and through third party services and websites. You should only provide Content that you are comfortable sharing with others under these Terms.

What you publish on Leanpub and say in Leanpub forums (the "Forums") may be purchased and/or viewed anywhere in the world immediately.

The Services are always evolving and the form and nature of the Services may change from time to time without prior notice to you. Ruboss also retains the right to create limits on use and storage at its sole discretion at any time without prior notice to you.

The Services may include advertisements, which may be targeted to the Content or information on the Services, queries made through the Services, or other information. The types and extent of advertising by Ruboss on the Services are subject to change. In consideration for Ruboss granting you access to and use of the Services, you agree that Ruboss and its third party providers and partners may place such advertising on the Services or in connection with the display of Content or information from the Services, whether submitted by you or others.

These advertisements may include advertisements for other Content uploaded by other users to Leanpub. For example, if you write a book about cheese and publish it on the Site, Ruboss reserves the right to advertise other Leanpub books about cheese and also any cheese-related products or services on the pages of the Leanpub website used for your book and in the Services such as the Forums used for your book.

Ruboss disclaims all responsibility and liability for the availability, timeliness, security or reliability of the Services or any other client software. Ruboss also reserves the right to modify, suspend or discontinue the Services with or without notice at any time and without any liability to you.

You represent and warrant that you have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms, and that the entering into these Terms does not conflict with any arrangements or agreements between you and any other person or entity.

You must be at least nineteen (19) years of age, or the age of majority in the jurisdiction where you reside if that age is greater than 19, to use the Site and Service. The Site is not directed to persons under 19. If a parent or guardian becomes aware that his or her child has provided us with personally identifiable information without their consent, he or she should contact us at privacy@leanpub.com. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 19. If we become aware that a child under 19 has provided us with personally identifiable Information, we will delete such information from our files.

You may use the Services only if you can enter into a binding contract with Ruboss and are not a person barred from receiving services under the laws of Canada or other applicable jurisdiction. You may use the Services only in compliance with these Terms and all applicable local, provincial, national, and international laws, rules and regulations. Ruboss reserves the right to refuse service to anyone at any time for any reason without notice. If you are unwilling or unable to be bound by these Terms, you are not permitted to and must immediately stop using the Services.

2. Description of Services

Leanpub is a web-based bookstore that sells e-books in a way that promotes interactions between authors and readers and social discovery of books. Leanpub offers authors the ability to sell the book throughout the writing process. In short, Leanpub is social self-publishing.

Authors can sell both non-fiction and fiction on Leanpub, and can sell books that are both in-progress and books that are complete. However, Leanpub is specifically designed to sell non-fiction books that are in-progress.

As such, using Leanpub is different from traditional web-based bookstores.

First, Leanpub makes reading a social activity. As a purchaser, when you purchase a book you automatically become a member of the community around the book. Your username and avatar becomes visible to the author and to other readers of the book. As an author, this is to your advantage. Our opinion is that once you have a meaningful portion of your book written (between 50 and 100 pages, typically), you should start selling it and getting real feedback from real readers, as early in the writing process as possible. If you purchase an e-book that is in-progress, your purchase price includes updates to the e-book, up to and including its final version.

Second, we are software developers and authors of computer books ourselves, and so have designed a web site that is ideal for selling in-progress computer books (this is especially true since computer books get obsolete so quickly!). While our area of expertise is computer books, we fully expect to see business books, novels and all types of non-fiction and fiction on the Site.

3. Privacy

Any information that you provide on the Services is subject to our Privacy Policy (the "Privacy Policy"), which governs our collection and use of such information. You understand that through your use of the Services you expressly consent to the collection and use (as set forth in the Privacy Policy) of this information. As part of providing you the Services, we may need to communicate to you certain information, such as service announcements and administrative messages. These communications are considered part of the Services and your Leanpub account, and so you may not be able to choose not to receive them. If you do not wish to receive such communications, you may need to terminate your Leanpub account, which you are free to do at any time.

The Privacy Policy can be found at http://leanpub.com/privacy. Accepting these Terms constitutes acceptance of the Privacy Policy. We may update the Privacy Policy from time to time, without notice. We recommend that you check it regularly.

4. Content Policy

All Content, whether publicly posted in Forums, published in e-books sold on Leanpub, or privately transmitted between members of Leanpub, is the sole responsibility of the person who originated such Content.

We will not monitor or control the Content posted via the Services and we take no responsibility for such Content. Any use or reliance on any Content or materials posted via the Services or obtained through the Services is at the user's own risk.

We do not endorse, support, represent or guarantee the completeness, truthfulness, accuracy, or reliability of any Content or communications posted via the Services or endorse any opinions expressed via the Services. You understand that by using the Services, you may be exposed to Content that might be offensive, harmful, inaccurate or otherwise inappropriate, or in some cases, postings that have been mislabelled or are otherwise deceptive. Under no circumstances will Ruboss be liable in any way for any Content, including, but not limited to, any errors or omissions in any Content, or any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content posted, emailed, transmitted or otherwise made available via the Services or broadcasted elsewhere.

By uploading Content to the Site you represent and warrant that the Content:

The person who creates and uploads the Content is entirely responsible for it. Since computers and other equipment (both yours and ours) are subject to occasional malfunction, you agree that you will not hold Ruboss responsible for any inadvertent damage to, corruption or destruction of the Content. In addition, Ruboss is not responsible for backing up or archiving the Content. If any Content transmitted to Leanpub is damaged, lost or corrupted in any way, Ruboss will have no obligation or liability to you.

As a user of the Services, you agree:

As an author of e-books that you contribute to and "sell" via the Site, you agree that e-books made available through the Site will only be provided to buyers pursuant to the E-Book Rights contained in Section 6 below.

In addition to complying with all the above restrictions on conduct and Content, you are responsible for adhering to all local and national laws of the jurisdiction in which you are located.

If Ruboss becomes aware that a user has uploaded Content that violates these Terms or other Leanpub policies, it may take one or more of the following actions based on the severity of the violation:

Ruboss, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to refuse publication on the Site of any Content or to remove any and all Content that Ruboss learns is inappropriate or illegal, or offensive, or potentially or actually harmful in any respect, or that negatively affects Site operations. At our discretion, we will remove Content and/or ban users who violate our policies with respect to the Site. We reserve the right to amend our policies from time to time in our sole discretion.

If you believe that any material contained in the Site infringes your copyright, you should notify Ruboss of your copyright infringement claim and Ruboss will take appropriate action in accordance with our Copyright Take Down Policy, which governs how we respond to claims of copyright infringement. The Copyright Take Down Policy can be found at http://leanpub.com/takedown. Accepting these Terms constitutes acceptance of the Take Down Policy.

Books with multiple Authors have one Primary Author who is the administrator of the book. This Primary Author can set the royalty percentages for the different Authors of the book.

5. Rights to Content Posted on the Site

Ruboss Property

Ruboss is the owner of all intellectual property rights, including but not limited to all copyright, patents, and trademarks, associated with Leanpub, the Site and the Services, with all rights reserved, exclusive of Content provided by third parties, including but not limited to Content which is owned by the licensors of such Content. Ruboss owns the design, format and layout of the Site. Ruboss authorizes users of the Site to use the Site and to copy materials posted on the Site (unless otherwise available for purchase) strictly for their own personal, non-commercial use, provided they maintain all notices of rights on the Content. Any and all other uses of the materials posted on the Site are prohibited. Such authorization from Ruboss does not extend to use of the design, format, or layout of the Site, which may be further protected under applicable trade dress, trademark, or copyright laws. All copyright, patent, trademark, and other intellectual property-related notices must remain affixed to any materials downloaded from the Site. Failure to maintain such notices voids the authorization granted above. In granting this authorization, Ruboss grants no other right, title, ownership, license, or other property interest in the materials and subject matter posted on the Site, and in any intellectual property rights protecting such materials and subject matter.

The Leanpub logo and the names of all Leanpub products and/or services as posted herein are either trademarks or service marks, or registered trademarks and/or service marks of Ruboss and all rights are reserved therein by Ruboss.

Licence Grant to Leanpub

You retain your rights to any Content you submit, post or display on or through the Services. However, by submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through the Services, you grant us certain rights. These rights differ based on the type of Content. For Content contained in an e-book sold or given away on Leanpub, you grant us a fully transferable, fully sub-licensable, non-exclusive license to copy, reproduce, print, publish, distribute and otherwise use the Content in conjunction with the Services worldwide, for as long as that e-book is sold or given away on Leanpub. For all other types of Content you post on Leanpub, such as posts to the Leanpub Forums, you grant us a fully transferable, fully sub-licensable, irrevocable, non-exclusive license to copy, reproduce, print, publish, create derivate works of, distribute, translate, and otherwise use the Content in conjunction with the Services, and any works derived from the Licensee's Work in all media, in perpetuity, and worldwide.

Permissions Agreement ("Permissions Agreement") for Content Posted on the Forums

The Forums allow readers to ask questions of each other and author(s), thereby improving their reading experience and the quality of the e-books being published on the Site. Since the primary goal of the Forums is to improve the author's experience of writing a book, the Content posted on the Forums must be usable to the author.

Therefore, posting on the Forums automatically invokes the following Permissions Agreement:

The user making the Forum post (the "Licensor") and the author(s) of the book (the "Licensee") hereby enter into this Permissions Agreement regarding the use of selected materials from the Licensor's text and source code, if any (the "Licensor's Work"), in the Licensee's work that the Forum pertains to (the "Licensee's Work") on the terms described below.

  1. Licensed Materials. This Permissions Agreement applies to information posted in Forums for the Licensee's Work, including but not limited to any text, source code or accompanying explanations ("the Licensed Materials").
  2. License. The Licensor hereby grants the Licensee and the Licensee's successors, assigns, and sublicensees, an irrevocable, non-exclusive license to copy, reproduce, print, publish, make derivate works of, distribute, translate, and otherwise use the Licensed Materials in the Licensee's Work, and any works derived from the Licensee's Work in all media, in perpetuity, and worldwide.
  3. Use of Licensed Materials. The Licensee may edit the Licensed Materials as the Licensee sees fit. The Licensee may, at the Licensee's sole discretion, provide appropriate credit for the use of the Licensor's Work, in the manner and style in which the Licensee generally conveys such information. The Licensee shall have no obligation to use the Licensed Materials in the Licensee's Work.
  4. Compensation. The intangible benefit of having participated in the Forum constitutes full compensation for the use of the Licensor's work.
  5. Warranties and Indemnity. The Licensor warrants to the Licensee that the Licensor owns and controls the rights licensed in this Permissions Agreement, and agrees to indemnify and defend the Licensee from any claim, loss or liability arising from a breach of the foregoing warranty.

Licence Grant to Purchaser of e-Books

We don't actually sell e-books on Leanpub. Leanpub merely facilitates the sale of manuscripts in electronic format between authors and readers. Since e-books are typically PDFs or in some other digital format, they are intangibles and you can't own your copy in the same way you can own a paper book. The rights you receive in and to an e-book and its content, come directly from the e-book's author. The e-book copy itself is provided to you in the form of a license only. All of the content of an e-book is subject to copyright and other laws just like any real book. Without restricting the application of the e-book author's rights available under copyright or other intellectual property or other property laws, or available at common law, the e-book author of each e-book you purchase via Leanpub grants you, subject to your compliance with these Terms, the following licence (the "E-Book Rights"):

Otherwise, your use and enjoyment of the content of your e-books will be as permitted by applicable law, including but not limited to copyright law. Your E-Book Rights shall remain in force for so long as you comply with these Terms and for so long as you retain any copies of your e-book(s).

We take copyright issues extremely seriously. Since we are authors ourselves, we know how it feels to have a book you have spent countless evenings and weekends writing "shared" on torrent sites. Please do not do this. If you "share" a book that someone has self-published, you are not ripping off some mega-corporation, you are ripping off an individual author and you are violating the legal rights of the author. (This is especially true of Leanpub books, where most of the revenue goes directly to the author).

6. Payment Terms

In order to purchase Content, Services, or tools on or through the Site, a user must either possess a PayPal account (http://paypal.com) or a major credit card that is accepted by PayPal.

Unless a separate agreement has been made with the author, authors will receive 90% royalties, minus a 50 cent flat fee per sale, for their books sold directly from Leanpub. Authors will receive no royalties for free purchases of their books. Ruboss reserves the right to enforce a minimum and a maximum price on Leanpub books. Currently, the minimum price is $0.99 USD and the maximum price is $500.00 USD, but this is subject to change without notice at any time.

For books with multiple authors, the author royalty will be split between the authors based on the percentages specified by the authors in the administrative interface for the book.

Royalties will be paid monthly by PayPal only. Royalties will be paid no later than 25 days following the end of the calendar month. If Ruboss owes you less than $40 in royalties, it reserve the right, at its discretion, to roll your revenue forward to the following month until an amount of $40 is reached. Leanpub will may separate PayPal payments to each author, based on the percentages specified in the administrative interface by the Primary Author.

Returns will be subtracted from the monthly royalties.

All PayPal payments are made in USD.

If your account is inactive or is terminated and Ruboss is unable to contact you using the contact information provided, it may also, at its discretion, charge a termination fee equal to the amount of unpaid revenue to cover administrative costs.

7. Returns

Content that has been purchased in electronic form has a 5 day unconditional return policy. This is just an honour system; there is no anti-circumvention or other copy-control system used.

8. User Registration and Information

You must ensure that you have correctly completed the information in the User Registration Form on the Site (the "User Information"). In the event that any part of your User Information changes, please ensure to promptly update your User Information on the Site. It is your responsibility to keep current all of your User Information on the Site.

You will have the opportunity to select a username and password during the user registration process. You are solely responsible in all respects for: (a) all use of the Site made using your username and password, and (b) maintaining the confidentiality of your username and password. We encourage you to use "strong" passwords (passwords that use a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols) with your account. Ruboss cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with the above requirements. Only one individual may access the Site at the same time using the same username and password. You agree to notify Ruboss immediately of any unauthorized use of your e-mail address, username or password, or any other security breach regarding the Site of which you are aware. Ruboss may refuse to grant you a username or password that impersonates someone else, is protected by trademark or other proprietary right law, is vulgar or otherwise offensive, or for any other reason.

9. Terminating Membership and/or Removing Content

These Terms are effective until terminated. Ruboss may terminate or suspend these Terms immediately for any reason and without prior notice to you. You may terminate your membership from the Account Information section of the Site, or by contacting support@leanpub.com with a specific request to do so. Your request to terminate will become effective within 30 days after receipt of your specific request has been acknowledged by Ruboss. All provisions of this Agreement relating to payment, commissions, service fees, disclaimers, limitations of liability, indemnification, confidentiality, and proprietary rights (including without limitation licence rights such as the Permissions Agreement and the E-Book Rights) shall survive termination.

When you choose to remove your Content from Leanpub, it will no longer be available for purchase or visible to users who have not purchased it. It will still be available to users who have purchased it. Furthermore, if you remove any Content which has been sold, it may still be listed as Content having been produced by you in your profile.

Ruboss does not retain any residual rights to removed work other than those outlined above.

If you choose to terminate your account, the terms outlined above regarding the status of Content you have uploaded remain applicable.

10. International Users

Ruboss makes no representation that material on the Site is appropriate to or available at locations outside of Canada and the United States. You may not use the Site or export the Content in violation of United States export regulations. If you access the Site from a location outside the United States or Canada, you are responsible for compliance with all applicable local laws and any local taxes that may be payable.

11. The Services are Available "AS-IS"

Your access to and use of the Services or any Content is at your own risk. You understand and agree that the Services are provided to you on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis. Without limiting the foregoing, RUBOSS AND ITS PARTNERS DISCLAIM ANY REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, OF MERCHANTABILITY, MERCHANTABLE QUALITY, DURABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. We make no warranty and disclaim all responsibility and liability for the completeness, accuracy, availability, timeliness, security or reliability of the Services or any Content thereon. Ruboss will not be responsible or liable for any harm to your computer system, loss of data, or other harm that results from your access to or use of the Services, or any Content. You also agree that Ruboss has no responsibility or liability for the deletion of, or the failure to store or to transmit, any Content and other communications maintained by the Services. We make no warranty that the Services will meet your requirements or be available on an uninterrupted, secure, or error-free basis. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained from Ruboss or through the Services, will create any warranty not expressly made herein. Ruboss may also in its discretion modify the features, availability, operation and/or look and feel of Leanpub from time to time without notice to our users.

12. Links

The Services may contain links to third-party websites or resources. You acknowledge and agree that we are not responsible or liable for: (i) the availability or accuracy of such websites or resources; or (ii) the content, products, or services on or available from such websites or resources. Links to such websites or resources do not imply any endorsement by Ruboss of such websites or resources or the content, products, or services available from such websites or resources. You acknowledge that it is your sole responsibility for, and assume all risk arising from, your use of any such websites or resources.

13. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, RUBOSS AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, PARTNERS AND LICENSORS (OTHER THAN CONTENT CONTRIBUTORS GRANTING LICENCES PURSUANT TO THESE TERMS) WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS OF PROFITS, OPPORTUNITY, DATA, USE, GOOD-WILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, RESULTING FROM (i) YOUR ACCESS TO OR USE OF OR INABILITY TO ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICES; (ii) ANY CONDUCT OR CONTENT OF ANY THIRD PARTY ON THE SERVICES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF OTHER USERS OR THIRD PARTIES; (iii) ANY CONTENT OBTAINED FROM THE SERVICES; AND (iv) UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS, USE OR ALTERATION OF YOUR TRANSMISSIONS OR CONTENT, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION NEGLIGENCE) OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, WHETHER OR NOT RUBOSS HAS BEEN INFORMED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE, AND EVEN IF A REMEDY SET FORTH HEREIN IS FOUND TO HAVE FAILED OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.

You agree that the liability of Ruboss, its officers, employees, affiliates, and agents, if any, arising out of any kind of legal claim (whether in contract, tort or otherwise) in any way connected with any transaction entered hereunder or the Site shall not exceed the amount you paid to Ruboss in connection with the transaction giving rise to such claim. Any action under these Terms must be commenced within one (1) year after such cause of action occurs.

The foregoing limitation applies to the acts, omissions, negligence, and gross negligence of Ruboss, its officers, employees, affiliates and agents which, but for this provision, would give rise to the cause of action against Ruboss in contract, tort, or any other legal doctrine. Your sole and exclusive remedies under these Terms are as expressly set out in these Terms.

14. Indemnification

You shall indemnify and hold Ruboss harmless against all third party claims, demands, suits, actions, judgments, losses, costs, damages (direct, indirect and consequential), lawyer's fees and expenses that Ruboss may sustain or incur by reason of any breach or alleged breach of any representation, warranty, term or condition of these Terms, and for any act or omission by you which is in any way related thereto.

15. Exclusions

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages. Therefore, the limitations above may not apply to you.

16. Waiver and Severability

The failure of Ruboss to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not be deemed a waiver of such right or provision.

Every provision of these Terms is intended to be severable. If any section of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, then such section will be deemed amended and will be interpreted, if possible, in a way that renders it enforceable. If such an interpretation is not possible, then the section will be deemed removed from these Terms and the rest of these Terms will remain in full force and effect.

17. Controlling Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms and any action related thereto will be governed by the laws of the Province of British Columbia, Canada, without regard to or application of the conflict of law provisions of your province, state or country of residence. All claims, legal proceedings or litigation arising in connection with the Services will be brought solely in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and you consent to the jurisdiction of such courts and waive any objection as to inconvenient forum. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Ruboss reserves the right to seek injunctive, specific performance or any other equitable remedy from any court of competent jurisdiction.

18. Entire Agreement

These Terms, the Privacy Policy and the Copyright Take Down Policy are the entire and exclusive agreement between Ruboss and yourself regarding the Services (excluding any services for which you have a separate agreement with Ruboss that is explicitly in addition or in place of these Terms), and these Terms supersede and replace any prior agreements between Ruboss and yourself regarding the Services.

Ruboss may revise these Terms from time to time. The most current version can be found at http://leanpub.com/terms. If the revision, in Ruboss's sole discretion, is material, Ruboss will attempt to notify you via e-mail to the email address associated with your account. By continuing to access or use the Services after those revisions become effective, you agree to be bound by the revised terms.

These Terms are binding. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods shall not apply to these Terms.

The Services are operated and provided by Ruboss Technology Corporation, Suite 334 - 485 West 8th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V5Y 3Z5. If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us.