Terms of Service
Thank you for using HanziHero! We’re happy you’re here. Please read this Terms of Service Agreement carefully before accessing or using HanziHero. Because it is such an important contract between us and our users, we have tried to make it as clear as possible. For your convenience, we have presented these terms in a short non-binding summary followed by the full legal terms.
Summary
Some basic terms, defined in a way that will help you understand this Agreement. Refer back up to this section for clarification.
These are the basic requirements of having an account on HanziHero.
These are the basic rules you must follow when using your HanziHero account.
You own the content you post on HanziHero. However, you have some responsibilities regarding it, and we ask you to grant us some rights so we can provide Services to you.
This section talks about how HanziHero will respond if you believe someone is infringing your copyrights on HanziHero.
F. Intellectual Property Notice
This describes HanziHero’s rights in the Website and Service.
If you want to promote your content on HanziHero, this section lays out some rules you must follow.
You are responsible for payment. We are responsible for billing you accurately.
I. Cancellation and Termination
You may cancel this Agreement and close your account at any time.
J. Communications with the Company
We only use email and other electronic means to stay in touch with our users. We do not provide phone support.
We provide our Service as is, and we make no promises or guarantees about this Service. Please read this section carefully; you should understand what to expect.
We will not be liable for damages or losses arising from your use or inability to use the Service or otherwise arising under this Agreement. Please read this section carefully; it limits our obligations to you.
M. Release and Indemnification
You are fully responsible for your use of the Service.
We may modify this Agreement, but we will give you 15 days notice of changes that affect your rights.
Please see this section for legal details including our choice of law.
The HanziHero Terms of Service
Effective date: June 21, 2023
A. Definitions
Short version: We use these basic terms throughout the Agreement, and they have specific meanings. You should know what we mean when we use each of the terms. There’s not going to be a test on it, but it’s still useful information.
- “Agreement” refers, collectively, to all the terms, conditions, notices contained or referenced in this document (the “Terms of Service” or the “Terms”) and all other operating rules, policies (including the HanziHero Privacy Policy, available at hanzihero.com/privacy) and procedures that we may publish from time to time on the Website.
- “Content” refers to content featured or displayed through the Website, including without limitation text, data, articles, images, photographs, graphics, software, applications, designs, features, audio, and other materials that are available on the Website or otherwise available through the Service. “Content” also includes Services. “User-Generated Content” is Content, written or otherwise, created or uploaded by our Users. “Your Content” is Content that you create or own.
- “Service” refers to the applications, software, products, and services provided by the Company.
- “Company”, “We”, and “Us” refer to HanziHero LLC, as well as our affiliates, directors, subsidiaries, contractors, licensors, officers, agents, and employees.
- “User”, “You”, and “Your” refer to the individual person, company, or organization that has visited or is using the Website or Service; that accesses or uses any part of the account; or that directs the use of the account in the performance of its functions. A User must be at least 13 years of age. Special terms may apply for business or government accounts (See Section B.4: Additional Terms).
- “Website” or “HanziHero” refers to the Company’s website located at hanzihero.com, and all content, Services, and products provided by the Company at or through the Website. It also refers to the Company-owned subdomains of hanzihero.com, such as community.hanzihero.com. Occasionally, Websites owned by the Company may provide different or additional terms of service. If those additional terms conflict with this Agreement, the more specific terms apply to the relevant page or Service.
B. Account Terms
Short version: A human must create your account; you must be 13 or over; and you must provide a valid email address. You alone are responsible for your account and anything that happens while you are signed in to or using your account. You are responsible for keeping your account secure.
1. Required Information
You must provide a valid email address in order to complete the signup process. Any other information requested, such as your real name, is optional, unless you are accepting these terms on behalf of a legal entity (in which case we need more information about the legal entity) or if you opt for a paid account, in which case additional information will be necessary for billing purposes.
2. Account Requirements
We have a few simple rules for accounts on HanziHero’s Service.
- You must be a human to create an account. Accounts registered by “bots” or other automated methods are not permitted.
- You must be age 13 or older. While we are glad to see young people eager to learn Chinese, we must comply with United States law. HanziHero does not target our Service to children under 13, and we do not permit any Users under 13 on our Service. If we learn of any User under the age of 13, we will terminate that User’s account immediately. If you are a resident of a country outside the United States, your country’s minimum age may be older; in such a case, you are responsible for complying with your country’s laws.
- You may not use as a username that is a name or trademark that is subject to any rights of another person or entity without appropriate authorization. You may not use a name that is otherwise offensive, vulgar, or obscene.
- Your login may only be used by one person — i.e., a single login may not be shared by multiple people.
3. User Account Security
You are responsible for keeping your account secure while you use our Service.
- You are responsible for all content posted and activity that occurs under your account.
- You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and password. HanziHero cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage from your failure to comply with this security obligation.
- You will promptly notify HanziHero if you become aware of any unauthorized use of, or access to, our Service through your account, including any unauthorized use of your password or account.
4. Additional Terms
In some situations, third parties’ terms may apply to your use of HanziHero. For example, you may download an application that integrates with HanziHero. Please be aware that while these Terms are our full agreement with you, other parties’ terms govern their relationships with you.
C. Acceptable Use
Short version: While using the Service, you must follow this Acceptable Use Policy, which includes some restrictions on content you can post, conduct on the Service, and other limitations. In short, be excellent to each other.
1. Compliance with Laws and Regulations
Your use of the Website and Service must not violate any applicable laws, including copyright or trademark laws, export control laws, or other laws in your jurisdiction. You are responsible for making sure that your use of the Service is in compliance with laws and any applicable regulations.
2. Content Restrictions
You agree that you will not under any circumstances upload, post, host, or transmit any content that:
- is unlawful or promotes unlawful activities;
- is or contains sexually obscene content;
- is libelous, defamatory, or fraudulent;
- is discriminatory or abusive toward any individual or group;
- contains or installs any active malware or exploits, or uses our platform for exploit delivery (such as part of a command and control system); or
- infringes on any proprietary right of any party, including patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, right of publicity, or other rights.
3. Conduct Restrictions
While using HanziHero, you agree that you will not under any circumstances:
- harass, abuse, threaten, or incite violence towards any individual or group, including the Company employees, officers, and agents, or other HanziHero Users;
- use our servers for any form of excessive automated bulk activity (for example, spamming), or relay any other form of unsolicited advertising or solicitation through our servers, such as get-rich-quick schemes;
- attempt to disrupt or tamper with the Company’s servers in ways that could harm our Website or Service, to place undue burden on the Company’s servers through automated means, or to access the Company’s Service in ways that exceed your authorization;
- impersonate any person or entity, including any of our employees or representatives, including through false association with the Company, or by fraudulently misrepresenting your identity or site’s purpose; or
- violate the privacy of any third party, such as by posting another person’s personal information without consent.
4. Services Usage Limits
You agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or exploit any portion of the Service, use of the Service, or access to the Service without the Company’s express written permission.
5. Scraping
Scraping refers to extracting data from our Website via an automated process, such as a bot or webcrawler.
You may scrape the Website for the following reasons:
- Researchers may scrape public, non-personal information from HanziHero for research purposes, only if any publications resulting from that research are open access.
- Archivists may scrape HanziHero for public data for archival purposes.
You may not scrape HanziHero for spamming purposes, including for the purposes of selling HanziHero users’ personal information, such as to advertisers, recruiters, or job boards.
All use of HanziHero data gathered through scraping must comply with the HanziHero Privacy Policy.
6. Privacy
Misuse of HanziHero Users’ Personal Information is prohibited.
Any person, entity, or service collecting data from HanziHero must comply with the HanziHero Privacy Policy, particularly in regards to the collection of our Users’ Personal Information (as defined in the HanziHero Privacy Policy). If you collect any HanziHero User’s Personal Information from HanziHero, you agree that you will only use the Personal Information you gather for the purpose for which our User has authorized it. You agree that you will reasonably secure any Personal Information you have gathered from HanziHero, and you will respond promptly to complaints, removal requests, and “do not contact” requests from the Company or HanziHero Users.
7. Excessive Bandwidth Use
If we determine your bandwidth usage to be significantly excessive in relation to other HanziHero customers, we reserve the right to suspend your account or throttle your access until you can reduce your bandwidth consumption.
8. User Protection
You agree not to engage in activity that significantly harms our Users. We will resolve disputes in favor of protecting our Users as a whole.
D. User-Generated Content
Short version: You own content you create, but you allow us certain rights to it, so that we can display and share the content you post. You still have control over your content, and responsibility for it, and the rights you grant us are limited to those we need to provide the Service. We have the right to remove content or close accounts if we need to.
1. Responsibility for User-Generated Content
You may create or upload User-Generated Content while using the Service. You are solely responsible for the content of, and for any harm resulting from, any User-Generated Content that you post, upload, link to or otherwise make available via the Service, regardless of the form of that Content. We are not responsible for any public display or misuse of your User-Generated Content.
2. The Company May Remove Content
We do not pre-screen User-Generated Content, but we have the right (though not the obligation) to refuse or remove any User-Generated Content that, in our sole discretion, violates any the Company terms or policies.
3. Ownership of Content, Right to Post, and License Grants
You retain ownership of and responsibility for Content you create or own (“Your Content”). If you’re posting anything you did not create yourself or do not own the rights to, you agree that you are responsible for any Content you post; that you will only submit Content that you have the right to post; and that you will fully comply with any third party licenses relating to Content you post.
Because you retain ownership of and responsibility for Your Content, we need you to grant us — and other HanziHero Users — certain legal permissions, listed in Sections D.4–D.5. These license grants apply to Your Content. If you upload Content that already comes with a license granting the Company the permissions we need to run our Service, no additional license is required. You understand that you will not receive any payment for any of the rights granted in Sections D.4–D.5. The licenses you grant to us will end when you remove Your Content from our servers.
4. License Grant to Us
We need the legal right to do things like host Your Content, publish it, and share it. You grant us and our legal successors the right to store, parse, and display Your Content, and make incidental copies as necessary to render the Website and provide the Service. This includes the right to do things like copy it to our database and make backups; show it to you and other users; parse it into a search index or otherwise analyze it on our servers; share it with other users; and perform it, in case Your Content is something like music or video.
This license does not grant the Company the right to sell Your Content or otherwise distribute or use it outside of our provision of the Service.
5. Moral Rights
You retain all moral rights to Your Content that you upload, publish, or submit to any part of the Service, including the rights of integrity and attribution. However, you waive these rights and agree not to assert them against us, to enable us to reasonably exercise the rights granted in Section D.4, but not otherwise.
To the extent this Agreement is not enforceable by applicable law, you grant the Company the rights we need to use Your Content without attribution and to make reasonable adaptations of Your Content as necessary to render the Website and provide the Service.
E. Copyright Infringement and DMCA Policy
If you believe that content on our Website violates your copyright, please contact us in accordance with our Digital Millennium Copyright Act Policy. If you are a copyright owner and you believe that content on HanziHero violates your rights, please contact us by emailing hello@hanzihero.com. There may be legal consequences for sending a false or frivolous takedown notice. Before sending a takedown request, you must consider legal uses such as fair use and licensed uses.
We disable and terminate the accounts of users who may infringe upon the copyrights or other intellectual property rights of the Company or others, in appropriate circumstances and at our sole discretion.
F. Intellectual Property Notice
Short version: We own the Service and all of our content. In order for you to use our content, we give you certain rights to it, but you may only use our content in the way we have allowed.
1. The Company’s Rights to Content
The Company and our licensors, vendors, agents, and/or our content providers retain ownership of all intellectual property rights of any kind related to the Website and Service. We reserve all rights that are not expressly granted to you under this Agreement or by law. The look and feel of the Website and Service is copyright © HanziHero LLC. All rights reserved. You may not duplicate, copy, or reuse any portion of the HTML/CSS, Javascript, or visual design elements or concepts without express written permission from the Company.
2. License to the Company Policies
This Agreement is licensed under this Creative Commons Zero license.
G. Advertising on HanziHero
Short version: We generally prohibit the use of HanziHero for advertising, so it does not become a spam haven. No one wants that.
Advertising Content is limited to the promotion of personal projects or personal professional development. Any advertising for a business entity is prohibited without approval by the Company.
Any Advertising Content, like all Content, must not violate the law or these Terms of Use, such as the restrictions on appropriate use of HanziHero. We reserve the right to remove any advertisements that, in our sole discretion, violate any the Company terms or policies.
H. Payment
Short version: You are responsible for any fees associated with your use of HanziHero. We are responsible for communicating those fees to you clearly and accurately, and letting you know well in advance if those prices change.
1. Pricing
Our pricing and payment terms are available at hanzihero.com/pricing as well as hanzihero.com/users/subscription. If you agree to a subscription price, that will remain your price for the duration of the payment term; however, prices are subject to change at the end of a payment term. Decreases in a subscription price may be applied in the middle of a payment term.
2. Merchant of Record
Our order process is conducted by our online reseller Paddle.com. Paddle.com is the Merchant of Record for all our orders. Paddle provides all customer service inquiries and handles returns.
3. Upgrades, Downgrades, and Changes
- We will immediately bill you when you upgrade from the free plan to any paying plan.
- If you change your level of service, we will prorate the cost difference and apply any charges or discounts immediately.
- You may change your level of service at any time by choosing a plan option or going into your subscription settings. If you choose to downgrade your account, you may lose access to Content, features, or capacity of your account.
4. Billing Schedule; Refunds
- For monthly or yearly payment plans, the Service is billed in advance on a monthly or yearly basis respectively.
- Refunds may be requested within 30 days of payment for any level of service, for any reason.
5. Authorization
By agreeing to these Terms, you are giving the Company (or Paddle) permission to charge your credit card or other approved methods of payment for fees that you authorize for HanziHero.
6. Responsibility for Payment
You are responsible for all fees, including taxes, associated with your use of the Service. By using the Service, you agree to pay the Company any charge incurred in connection with your use of the Service. If you dispute the matter, contact our support team. You are responsible for providing our Merchant of Record, Paddle.com, with a valid means of payment for paid accounts. Free accounts are not required to provide payment information.
I. Cancellation and Termination
Short version: You may close your account at any time. If you do, we’ll treat your information responsibly.
1. Account Cancellation
You can cancel your subscription at any time via the subscription settings. Your access to paid content and features will remain in effect until the end of your current billing period. At the end of the billing period, access to paid content and features will be revoked, though your account will still be accessible and you can re-subscribe at any time. As part of keeping your account accessible, we will retain your data indefinitely, or until such time that you request an account deletion.
2. Account Deletion
It is your responsibility to request your account to be deleted with HanziHero. You can delete your account at any time by messaging the Company.
3. Upon Deletion
We will retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our Agreements, but barring legal requirements, we will delete your full profile immediately. Note that some information may remain in secure backups. This information can not be recovered once your account is deleted.
We will not delete Content that you have contributed to the community forums, but it will be publicly anonymized.
Upon request, we will make a reasonable effort to provide an account owner with a copy of your lawful, non-infringing account contents before account cancellation, deletion, termination, or downgrade.
4. The Company May Terminate
The Company has the right to suspend or terminate your access to all or any part of the Website at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice, effective immediately. the Company reserves the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason at any time.
5. Survival
All provisions of this Agreement which by their nature should survive termination will survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity, and limitations of liability.
J. Communications with the Company
Short version: We use email and other electronic means to stay in touch with our users.
1. Electronic Communication Required
For contractual purposes, you (1) consent to receive communications from us in an electronic form via the email address you have submitted or via the Service; and (2) agree that all Terms of Service, Agreements, notices, disclosures, and other communications that we provide to you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that those communications would satisfy if they were on paper. This section does not affect your non-waivable rights.
2. Legal Notice to the Company Must Be in Writing
Communications made through email or HanziHero Support’s messaging system will not constitute legal notice to the Company or any of its officers, employees, agents or representatives in any situation where notice to the Company is required by contract or any law or regulation. Legal notice to the Company must be in writing and served on the Company’s legal agent.
3. No Phone Support
HanziHero only offers support via email, in-Service communications, and electronic messages. We do not offer telephone support.
K. Disclaimer of Warranties
Short version: We provide our Service as is, and we make no promises or guarantees about this Service. Please read this section carefully; you should understand what to expect.
The Company provides the Website and the Service “as is” and “as available,” without warranty of any kind. Without limiting this, we expressly disclaim all warranties, whether express, implied or statutory, regarding the Website and the Service including without limitation any warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, security, accuracy and non-infringement.
The Company does not warrant that the Service will meet your requirements; that the Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free; that the information provided through the Service is accurate, reliable or correct; that any defects or errors will be corrected; that the Service will be available at any particular time or location; or that the Service is free of viruses or other harmful components. You assume full responsibility and risk of loss resulting from your downloading and/or use of files, information, content or other material obtained from the Service.
L. Limitation of Liability
Short version: We will not be liable for damages or losses arising from your use or inability to use the Service or otherwise arising under this Agreement. Please read this section carefully; it limits our obligations to you.
You understand and agree that we will not be liable to you or any third party for any loss of profits, use, goodwill, or data, or for any incidental, indirect, special, consequential or exemplary damages, however arising, that result from:
- the use, disclosure, or display of your User-Generated Content;
- your use or inability to use the Service;
- any modification, price change, suspension or discontinuance of the Service;
- the Service generally or the software or systems that make the Service available;
- unauthorized access to or alterations of your transmissions or data;
- statements or conduct of any third party on the Service;
- the use of websites or services, as well as the content, goods, and services on those websites and services, mentioned by the Service or linked from the Website;
- any other user interactions that you input or receive through your use of the Service; or
- any other matter relating to the Service.
Our liability is limited whether or not we have been informed of the possibility of such damages, and even if a remedy set forth in this Agreement is found to have failed of its essential purpose. We will have no liability for any failure or delay due to matters beyond our reasonable control.
M. Release and Indemnification
Short version: You are responsible for your use of the Service. If you harm someone else or get into a dispute with someone else, we will not be involved.
If you have a dispute with one or more Users, you agree to release the Company from any and all claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes.
You agree to indemnify us, defend us, and hold us harmless from and against any and all claims, liabilities, and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, arising out of your use of the Website and the Service, including but not limited to your violation of this Agreement, provided that the Company (1) promptly gives you written notice of the claim, demand, suit or proceeding; (2) gives you sole control of the defense and settlement of the claim, demand, suit or proceeding (provided that you may not settle any claim, demand, suit or proceeding unless the settlement unconditionally releases the Company of all liability); and (3) provides to you all reasonable assistance, at your expense.
N. Changes to These Terms
Short version: We want our users to be informed of important changes to our terms, but some changes aren’t that important — we don’t want to bother you every time we fix a typo. So while we may modify this Agreement at any time, we will notify users of any changes that affect your rights and give you time to adjust to them.
We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to amend these Terms of Service at any time and will update these Terms of Service in the event of any such amendments. We will notify our Users of material changes to this Agreement, such as price changes, at least 15 days prior to the change taking effect by posting a notice on our Website. For non-material modifications, your continued use of the Website constitutes agreement to our revisions of these Terms of Service.
We reserve the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Website (or any part of it) with or without notice.
O. Miscellaneous
1. Governing Law
Except to the extent applicable law provides otherwise, this Agreement between you and the Company and any access to or use of the Website or the Service are governed by the federal laws of the United States of America and the laws of the State of Florida, without regard to conflict of law provisions. You and the Company agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the courts located in St. Petersburg, Florida.
2. Contests, Sweepstakes and Promotions
Any contests, sweepstakes or other promotions (collectively, “Promotions”) made available through the Service may be governed by rules that are separate from these Terms. If you participate in any Promotions, please review the applicable rules as well as our Privacy Policy. If the rules for a Promotion conflict with these Terms, the Promotion rules will apply.
3. Non-Assignability
the Company may assign or delegate these Terms of Service and/or the HanziHero Privacy Policy, in whole or in part, to any person or entity at any time with or without your consent, including the license grant in Section D.4. You may not assign or delegate any rights or obligations under the Terms of Service or Privacy Statement without our prior written consent, and any unauthorized assignment and delegation by you is void.
4. Section Headings and Summaries
Throughout this Agreement, each section includes titles and brief summaries of the following terms and conditions. These section titles and brief summaries are not legally binding.
5. Severability, No Waiver, and Survival
If any part of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that portion of the Agreement will be construed to reflect the parties’ original intent. The remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. Any failure on the part of the Company to enforce any provision of this Agreement will not be considered a waiver of our right to enforce such provision. Our rights under this Agreement will survive any termination of this Agreement.
6. Amendments; Complete Agreement
This Agreement may only be modified by a written amendment signed by an authorized representative of the Company, or by the posting by the Company of a revised version in accordance with Section N. Changes to These Terms. These Terms of Service, together with the HanziHero Privacy Statement, represent the complete and exclusive statement of the Agreement between you and us. This Agreement supersedes any proposal or prior Agreement oral or written, and any other communications between you and the Company relating to the subject matter of these terms including any confidentiality or nondisclosure agreements.
7. Questions
Questions about the Terms of Service? Contact us.