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Effective date: [to be inserted at launch] · Last updated: [to be inserted at launch]

Terms of Use

This is a working draft. Before public launch it will be reviewed by a UK solicitor specialising in consumer-facing digital services. The substance below reflects our intended approach but should not be relied on as final legal wording.

1. About these Terms

These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your use of the ChonkPal mobile application and website (the "Service"). The Service is operated by [ChonkPal Ltd], a company registered in England and Wales with company number [TBC] and registered office at [TBC] ("we," "us," "our").

By creating an account, joining the waitlist, or otherwise using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

2. About the Service — the Service is not veterinary advice

ChonkPal is a general-information and tracking tool developed by scientists to help pet owners record and visualise their pets' weight over time.

The Service is not a veterinary service. Nothing in the Service is or should be treated as veterinary advice, diagnosis, prescription, or treatment of any kind. All information in the Service — including breed-typical ranges, growth charts, trend graphs, alerts, body-condition prompts, and educational content — is general information that is not tailored to any individual animal and is not a substitute for professional veterinary care.

Using the Service does not create any veterinary–client–patient relationship. We do not employ veterinary surgeons to deliver advice through the Service. We do not hold ourselves out as qualified to give veterinary advice.

If your pet is unwell, losing or gaining weight rapidly, refusing food, behaving abnormally, or you have any concern about their health, please contact a registered veterinary practice directly. In an emergency, contact an out-of-hours veterinary service or emergency animal hospital.

You are solely responsible for decisions you make about your pet's care. By using the Service, you acknowledge that any action you take (or decline to take) in reliance on information in the Service is at your own risk.

3. Eligibility

  • You must be at least 13 years old to create an account. Some jurisdictions set a higher minimum age for online services; you are responsible for ensuring your use complies with local law.
  • If you are under 18 (or the age of majority in your jurisdiction), you confirm you have the permission of a parent or guardian to use the Service.
  • You confirm that any pet you register is in your care, and that the information you provide about that pet is accurate to the best of your knowledge.

4. Your account

  • You are responsible for keeping your login credentials confidential.
  • You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account.
  • Please notify us immediately if you suspect your account has been accessed without your permission.
  • We may suspend or terminate an account that appears to be compromised or used in breach of these Terms.

5. Fees, free tier, and paid features

The core Service is free to use. We may in future introduce optional paid features or subscription tiers (the "Paid Services"), which will be clearly labelled and priced within the Service.

Paid Services (if offered) would renew automatically unless cancelled, and you would be able to cancel through your device's app-store account settings.

Under the UK Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, you may have a 14-day cooling-off period for digital content. If you choose to begin using a Paid Service immediately, you expressly consent to delivery starting within that period and acknowledge that you lose the right to cancel for a refund.

6. Licence to use the Service

We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to access and use the Service for personal, non-commercial purposes on devices you own or control, subject to these Terms.

You may not copy, modify, reverse-engineer, decompile, scrape, resell, or sublicense the Service. You may not build a competing product using the Service.

7. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

  • use the Service unlawfully, fraudulently, or in a way that could cause harm to any person or animal;
  • upload content that is infringing, defamatory, obscene, or unlawful;
  • impersonate another person or entity;
  • attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Service or related systems;
  • use the Service to provide veterinary advice to third parties, or to resell, repackage, or redistribute content from the Service; or
  • use the Service in a manner that interferes with other users' use of it.

8. Your content

You retain all rights in the data you provide through the Service ("Your Content"), including pet profiles, weigh-ins, notes, and photographs.

You grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to host, store, transmit, and display Your Content solely for the purpose of operating the Service for you. This licence ends when you delete Your Content or your account, subject to reasonable backup rotation periods described in our Privacy Notice.

You warrant that you have the right to provide Your Content, and that Your Content does not infringe the rights of any third party.

9. Our content and intellectual property

All intellectual property in the Service — other than Your Content — including source code, branding, design, copy, images, algorithms, statistical models, trade marks, trade names, and logos, is owned by us or our licensors. Your use of the Service under these Terms does not transfer any such intellectual property to you.

You may not use our trade marks, name, or logo in any way without our prior written permission.

10. Availability and changes

  • We take reasonable steps to keep the Service available, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted availability.
  • We may update, modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service. Where a change would be a material adverse change to a Paid Service you are actively subscribed to, we will give you at least 30 days' notice and you may cancel for a pro-rata refund.
  • For the free tier, we may change features at any time without notice.

11. Your statutory consumer rights

As a consumer you have certain rights that cannot be excluded or restricted. In the United Kingdom, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires that digital content supplied under a contract be of satisfactory quality, fit for the purpose for which it is supplied, and as described. Nothing in these Terms takes those rights away.

Similar statutory rights may exist in other jurisdictions; where they do, they continue to apply alongside these Terms.

12. Our liability

Please read this section carefully.

12.1 What we do not limit. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for: death or personal injury caused by our negligence; fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; any breach of a consumer statutory right that cannot lawfully be excluded; or any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

12.2 The Service is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, and subject to 12.1, we do not warrant that:

  • the Service will meet your specific requirements;
  • the Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free;
  • any information, trend, alert, or recommendation produced by the Service is accurate, current, complete, or suitable for your pet;
  • the Service will detect, predict, or prevent any health condition, disease, or outcome in your pet.

12.3 Cap on monetary liability. Subject to 12.1, our total aggregate liability to you arising out of or in connection with these Terms, your use of the Service, or the Service itself is capped at the greater of (a) the fees you paid us in the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to liability, or (b) £100.

12.4 Excluded losses. Subject to 12.1, we are not liable to you for any:

  • indirect, consequential, special, incidental, or punitive loss;
  • loss of profit, revenue, business, anticipated savings, goodwill, or opportunity;
  • loss of, damage to, or corruption of your data (other than your personal data, for which the Privacy Notice and applicable data-protection law apply);
  • veterinary expenses, procedures, treatments, medications, diagnostic costs, or loss of an animal;
  • losses arising from your decision not to consult a veterinary surgeon when the Service suggested you do so;
  • losses arising from your entering inaccurate or incomplete information into the Service;
  • losses arising from unavailability, errors, or delays in the Service;
  • losses arising from third-party services, networks, app stores, or devices outside our reasonable control.

12.5 Your responsibility for your pet. You alone are responsible for the health, welfare, and care of your pet. The Service is an informational aid only. Any decision about your pet's care — including whether, when, and how to seek veterinary attention — is yours and yours alone.

13. Indemnity from you

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify, defend, and hold us, our officers, employees, contractors, and agents harmless from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and reasonable expenses (including legal fees) arising from or relating to: your breach of these Terms; Your Content; your misuse of the Service; or your acts or omissions in caring for your pet.

14. Termination

  • You may terminate at any time by deleting your account in the app.
  • We may terminate or suspend your account on reasonable notice if you breach these Terms, use the Service unlawfully, or create risk to other users or to us.
  • Upon termination, our deletion policy in the Privacy Notice applies. Provisions of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination (including Sections 9, 12, 13, 17) do survive.

15. Complaints and disputes

If you have a concern please contact us first at support@chonkpal.example. We will acknowledge within two working days and aim to respond substantively within ten working days. Most concerns can be resolved quickly in this way.

If we cannot resolve a dispute between us, you may be entitled to use an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service. We will notify you of relevant ADR providers at the time of any unresolved dispute. You retain any statutory right to go to court.

16. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time, for example to reflect changes to the Service, changes to applicable law, or feedback from users. We will give at least 30 days' notice of material changes via email (where we have your email address) and in-app notice. Continued use of the Service after the effective date of a change constitutes acceptance. If you do not accept a material change, you may stop using the Service and delete your account.

17. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms and any dispute arising out of or in connection with them (including non-contractual disputes) are governed by the laws of England and Wales.

The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction, save that:

  • if you live in Scotland, you may bring proceedings in the Scottish courts;
  • if you live in Northern Ireland, you may bring proceedings in the Northern Irish courts;
  • where mandatory consumer-protection laws of your country of habitual residence grant you the right to bring proceedings locally, those rights continue to apply.

18. Contact

ChonkPal Ltd, [registered office to be inserted], United Kingdom. General: support@chonkpal.example. Privacy: privacy@chonkpal.example.