Terms and Conditions

This page is written by a lawyer and spells out in legal language exactly how the Unbound process works and lays out our obligations to our users and our users obligations to us. It's all fairly standard stuff - despite the slightly off-putting jargon.

Examples of your obligations to us include the fact you are not allowed to write slanderous or offensive things on the site or to broadcast your user name and password so hundreds of people who haven't signed up can access an author's shed using your account.

Examples of our obligations to you include the fact that we're not allowed to leave all your personal details on a CD on a train and that we have to give you what we say we're going to give you (access to the shed when you subscribe and the benefits that apply to your pledge level). It's that kind of stuff.

If you have any questions about the terms of use, the service you receive or the way we manage your personal account information email legal@unbound.co.uk By the way, unbound.co.uk is owned by United Authors Publishing Limited - that's the name of our company.

Right, over to the lawyers.

What are the Terms of Use?

The Terms of Use, set out below, are the only basis upon which United Authors Publishing Ltd. will supply you with access to the unbound.co.uk website and service. You may not make any changes to or any modification of these terms.

If you want to use the Service you must accept the Terms of Use.

Why should I read them?

It is very important that you fully understand the Service that is being offered to ensure you use the Service appropriately. We have written the Terms of Use in a manner which we hope will enable you to easily understand the nature of the Service offered and the Terms under which it must be used.

Terms of use

A. Acceptance of Terms

The Terms of Use ("TOU") are the only basis upon which United Authors Publishing Ltd. ("Unbound"), will supply you with access to the unbound.co.uk service as described on the Unbound website and herein referred to as the "Service". You may not make any changes to or modification of these terms. By registering you agree to be bound by all Terms and Conditions of the Service.

B. Unbound's Obligation to You

Subject to the TOU, Unbound will:

  1. Inform you of any changes to the TOU from time to time. See Modification to the TOU.
  2. Remind you of aspects of 'Your Obligation to Unbound' at appropriate times during your use of the Service.
  3. Treat your personal information in a responsible manner. See Security and Member Privacy.
  4. Supply you with access to a service for supporting book projects.
  5. Supply the Service using operating procedures designed to ensure the Service's security and System availability.
  6. Answer any queries you have regarding the TOU, Service and the operation of your account.

C. Your Obligation to Unbound

  1. You will accept liability for some events which may occur. See Indemnification.
  2. You will read, acquaint yourself fully and comply with all aspects of the TOU. If there are any aspects which you do not fully understand you will seek clarification from Unbound.
  3. You are aged 18 or over.
  4. You will at all times use the Service in good faith and in a responsible manner.
  5. You will not allow anyone other than yourself and Unbound to access your account.
  6. You will use the Service solely for your own benefit and shall not sell, lease, assign, lend, hire or gift any part of the Service in whole or in part to any other person without Unbound's prior written approval.
  7. You will use the Service only for lawful purposes and in a manner which does not infringe the rights of or restrict or inhibit the use of the Service by any Member and/or Unbound.
  8. Comply with all terms of Members Conduct and Member Account Registration of the TOU.

D. Security and Member Privacy

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and account. Furthermore, you are responsible for any and all Member accessible activities that occur under your account. You agree to notify Unbound immediately on becoming aware of any unauthorized use of your password or account or any other breach of security.

Unbound has put in place security measures to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of the information collected. Our web servers are locked in cages in a highly secure internet data centre. An Intrusion Detection System monitors a dynamically updated firewall (an internet security device) which sits between the Unbound website and the internet to help prevent any unauthorized user from accessing any data.

You agree that Unbound and its authorised employees can access your account, including its contents as stated above, or to respond to support queries or technical issues or to fulfil the obligations under this Agreement. To learn more about how the Service deals with privacy then please see the Privacy Policy

Unbound reserves the right at all times to monitor, review, retain, and/or disclose in good faith any information it believes in good faith that such action or disclosure is necessary to conform to legal and government requirements, or to protect and defend the rights or property of Unbound or enforce the TOU.

Unbound reserves the right to collect and distribute non-personal demographic information to third parties. As such this information would not contain any information that would allow your identity to be deduced.

E. Member Account Registration

To register as a Unbound Member, you agree to:

  1. Provide us with current, complete and accurate information about yourself (the registration data);
  2. Maintain and promptly update the registration data to keep it current, complete and accurate at all times;
  3. To represent only yourself on the Service, and no other persons, living, dead, or imagined.

If you provide any information that is not current, or is incomplete or inaccurate, or Unbound has reasonable grounds to believe that such information is not current, or is incomplete or inaccurate, Unbound has the right to suspend or terminate your membership, and refuse any and all current or future use of the Service.

Under no circumstances do Unbound have any obligations under the Agreement to check the accuracy or truthfulness of the registration data of any Member.

F. Member Conduct

As a condition of your use of the Service, you guarantee to Unbound that you will not use the Service for any purpose that is unlawful and / or prohibited by these terms, conditions, and notices.

You agree to abide by all applicable local, state, national and international laws and regulations and are solely responsible for all acts or omissions that occur under your account made by you including the content of your transmissions through the Service. By way of example, and not as a limitation, you agree NOT to:

  1. Defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or otherwise violate the rights (such as rights of privacy and publicity) of others.
  2. Publish, distribute and/ or disseminate any harmful, obscene, indecent, unlawful, libellous, profane, defamatory, infringing, inappropriate, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable material or information.
  3. Create a false or misleading identity of, including, but not limited to, a Unbound employee, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity, for the purpose of misleading others as to the identity of the sender or the origin of a message or to harvest or otherwise collect information about others.
  4. Transmit, email or post any material that contains in any form software viruses or such programs as including but not limited to, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancel-bots, computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment.
  5. Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service, other accounts, computer systems or networks connected to the Service, through password mining or any other means.
  6. Disseminate content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, rights of privacy or publicity, or other proprietary right ('Rights') of any party or infringes any intellectual property law or any other applicable law.
  7. Disseminate any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, 'junk mail', 'spam', 'chain letters', 'pyramid schemes', or any other form of such solicitation.
  8. Interfere with another member's use and enjoyment of the Service.
  9. You will behave in a manner that is consistent with the ethos of Unbound

Without prejudice to the Security and Member Privacy of the TOU, Unbound has no obligation to monitor the Service or any member's use thereof.

G. Unbound's Proprietary Rights

You acknowledge and agree that the Unbound content including but not limited to (1) text, (2) software, (3) photographs, (4) graphics, (5) page layout (6) design presented through and as part of the Service by Unbound is protected by copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents, or other proprietary rights and laws.

Such content received through the Service may be displayed, reformatted, and printed by you for your personal, non-commercial use only and at all times used solely in connection with the Service in accordance with the TOU.

Certain of the names, logos, and other materials displayed on the Unbound web site constitute trademarks, copyright and other intellectual property collectively referred to as 'IP rights' of Unbound. Ownership of such IP rights remains with Unbound. You are authorised to use such IP rights during the process of promoting and using the Unbound service hosted by the Service.

H. Fees, Credits, Subscriptions and Refunds

Unbound is free to join. To participate in a Book Project (“project”) you must support them using credits. In return for supporting a project you will gains access to that project’s Supporter Area. When the project is complete you may also receive further rewards, dependent on your level of support.

To support a project you must allocate credits to that project. Credits are online redeemable points that can be used to support projects.

You can acquire credits through our online store or by successfully promoting a book project. Credits purchased within 30 days, which are not allocated to a project, can be returned for a cash refund.

Each book project has a Target number of Supporters (“target”) and a Target Timeframe (“timeframe”), in which the target must be reached for the project to go ahead. Once a project has reached its target, the project becomes active, and credits can not be withdrawn from it.

If you subscribe to a project after the target has been reached you can not withdraw those credits from the project.

If you subscribe to a project and it does not reach its target within the timeframe, your subscription will be cancelled and all credits will be returned.

Each book project has Rewards associated with it, such as a 1st Edition book. Rewards are provided to subscribers on the completion of a project. It is the responsibility of Unbound to deliver all rewards. These will be delivered within a maximum of 30 days after the completion of the project. In the event of Unbound failing to deliver a Reward to you, Unbound will refund the full value of your subscription associated with that reward.

I. Disclaimer of Warranties

YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT:

  1. Your use of the Service is at your sole risk.
  2. The Service is provided on an 'as is' and 'as available' basis and the warranties on the part of Unbound contained in this TOU are given in place of and replace, exclude and extinguish all and every other condition or warranty whatsoever on the part of Unbound, written or oral, whether express or implied by statute, regulation, directive or any other legislative or administrative enactment, common law, trade usage, custom or otherwise to the full extent permitted by law.
  3. The information and content included in or available through the Service may include inaccuracies or typographical errors.
  4. Changes are periodically added to the information contained with the Service and Unbound and/or its respective suppliers may make improvements and/or changes in the Service at any time.
  5. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by you from Unbound or through the Service shall create any warranty not expressly stated in the TOU.

Except as otherwise expressly provided in the TOU, Unbound does NOT represent or warrant that:

  1. The Service will meet your requirements.
  2. The Service will be uninterrupted or error-free, timely or secure.
  3. Defects or errors will be corrected, or that the Service or the server that makes it available, are free of viruses or other harmful components.
  4. The use of or the results of the use of the Service or the content made available as part of the Service will be correct, accurate, timely, or otherwise reliable.
  5. The content of the Service input by other members is correct or accurate.

J. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

  1. YOU AGREE THAT Unbound SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR:
    1. PROVIDED THAT Unbound HAS FULFILLED ITS SECURITY OBLIGATIONS, UNAUTHORISED ACCESS TO OR ALTERATION OF YOUR TRANSMISSIONS OR DATA, ANY MATERIAL OR DATA SENT OR RECEIVED OR NOT SENT OR RECEIVED, OR ANY TRANSACTIONS ENTERED INTO THROUGH THE SERVICE.
    2. ANY THREATENING, DEFAMATORY, OBSCENE, OFFENSIVE OR ILLEGAL CONTENT, SAVE THAT Unbound SHALL BE ENTITLED TO REMOVE IT IN ALL PRACTICABLE SPEED AFTER Unbound HAS BEEN NOTIFIED IN WRITING OF ITS PRESENCE ON THE SITE.
    3. CONDUCT OF ANY OTHER MEMBER OR ANY INFRINGEMENT OF ANOTHER'S RIGHTS, INCLUDING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS.
    4. ANY INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION:
      • * DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF USE;
      • * DATA GOODWILL;
      • * PROFITS, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES;
      • ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH:
      • * USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THE SERVICE OR RELATED WEBSITES;
      • * DELAY OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE OR RELATED WEBSITES;
      • * PROVISION OF OR FAILURE TO PROVIDE SERVICES, INFORMATION OR SOFTWARE;
      • * SERVICES OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICE, OR OTHERWISE ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THE SERVICE;
      • * ERROR;
      • * OMISSION;
      • * INACCURACY;
      • * INTERRUPTION;
      • * DELETION;
      • * DEFECT;
      • * DELAY IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION;
      • * COMPUTER VIRUS;
      • * COMMUNICATION LINE FAILURE;
      • * THEFT;
      • * DESTRUCTION OR UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS;
      • * ALTERATION;
      • WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE - EVEN IF Unbound OR ANY OF ITS SUPPLIERS HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGES.
  2. IF YOU ARE DISSATISFIED WITH THE SERVICE OR ANY PART OF THE SERVICE YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY IS TO DISCONTINUE USING THE SERVICE AND ITS RELATED WEBSITE.
  3. AT ALL TIMES AND IN ANY EVENT THE TOTAL LIABILITY OF Unbound TO ITS MEMBERS SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE TOTAL FEE PAID BY THE INDIVIDUAL MEMBER TO Unbound.

K. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Unbound, its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, officers and employees from any claim, demand, or damage, including reasonable legal fees, asserted by any third party due to or arising out of your use of or conduct on the Service.

L. Modification and Termination of the Service

You agree that Unbound, in its sole discretion, may terminate your password, account or use of the Service, and remove and discard any content within the Service, for any reason, including without limitation, if Unbound believes that you have violated or acted inconsistently with the letter or spirit of the TOU.

Unbound may also, in its sole discretion and at any time, discontinue temporarily or permanently providing the Service, or any part thereof, with or without notice. You agree that any termination of access to the Service under any provision of the TOU may be effected without notice, and acknowledge and agree that Unbound may immediately deactivate or delete your account and all related information and files in your account and/or bar any further access to such files or the Service UNLESS agreed in writing with Unbound. Nevertheless, where possible, Unbound will use reasonable endeavours to give Members fair notice of termination or suspension of their access to the Service.

Further you agree that Unbound shall not be liable to you or any third party for any termination or suspension of access to the Service or modification of the Service.

M. Modifications to the TOU

Unbound may revise these Terms of Use from time to time, in our discretion. We encourage you to check back periodically to familiarize yourself with any changes. If we make any changes or modifications, we will post the updated Terms of Use on the Website. Please note that the changes become effective immediately at the time of posting.

Unbound reserves the right at any time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Service (or any part thereof) with or without notice. You agree that Unbound shall not be liable to you or any third party for any modification to or discontinuance of the Service.

N. TOU Violations

Please report any violations of the TOU to Customer Support at help@unbound.co.uk

O. Entire Agreement

These TOU constitute the entire agreement between Unbound and the Member and supersede any previous agreement or understanding between Unbound and the Member.

P. Governing Law

These TOU shall be governed in all respects by English Law and the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

Q. Online Content

Opinions, advice, statements, offers, or other information or content made available through the Service, but not directly by us, are those of their respective authors, and should not necessarily be relied upon. Such authors are solely responsible for such content. WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, OR USEFULNESS OF ANY INFORMATION ON THE SERVICE AND WE NEITHER ADOPT NOR ENDORSE NOR ARE WE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY OPINION, ADVICE, OR STATEMENT MADE BY PARTIES OTHER THAN US. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ARE WE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE RESULTING FROM ANYONE'S RELIANCE ON INFORMATION OR OTHER CONTENT POSTED ON THE SERVICE, OR TRANSMITTED TO MEMBERS. WE RESERVE THE RIGHT, BUT WE HAVE NO OBLIGATION, TO MONITOR THE MATERIALS POSTED IN THE PUBLIC AREAS OF THE SERVICE. WE SHALL HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMOVE ANY SUCH MATERIAL THAT, IN OUR SOLE DISCRETION, VIOLATES, OR IS ALLEGED TO VIOLATE, THE LAW OR THIS AGREEMENT. NOTWITHSTANDING THIS RIGHT, YOU REMAIN SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENT OF THE MATERIALS YOU POST IN THE PUBLIC AREAS OF THE SERVICE AND IN YOUR PRIVATE MESSAGES.