Last revised: November 16, 2012

Turning your office, kitchen, smartphone or living room into the writer's room – this is Scriball. What stories do you have to tell us today? Welcome to www.scriball.com and the Scriball application.

We are Scriball, Inc. (Scriball, we, us, and our). You are you (or the person or organization you're representing). In order to use our website and the services we may offer here or through any of our apps (any of which, and all together, the "Services"), you must agree to and follow our terms and conditions. By clicking on the "I Agree" icon, or by continuing to use our Services, you are telling us that you agree to our terms – these become the rules of the game ("Rules"). The Rules apply whether or not you have registered for an account with us and they include our Privacy Policy (very important, please read that too).

The Rules are organized by the type of rule you are agreeing to follow, or issue you are acknowledging that you understand. You can scroll through all of the Rules, or you can just make a selection here to find something particular you are looking for.

We're not trying to hide the ball, so email us if you have any questions at customerservice@scriball.com.

1. What Is Scriball?

Scriball is a collaborative space, where authors can spin tales and invite others to participate in the creative process. What makes Scriball special, and different from the many other collaborative work spaces on the Internet, is that we provide users with the tools to make the stories that are created here visible to people interested in collaborating with others, potentially having others discover your tales or you as an author or paying authors for their content. To help understand the Rules, we'll use the following terms:

A "Story" is an original work of authorship, created by a registered Scriball user. A Story may be of any length or genre, including music, humor and other forms of written content.

An "Author" is someone who originates a Story on Scriball.

A "Contributor" is someone Scriball allows to add additional material to that Author's Story.

A "Contribution" is anything (ideas, text, feedback, images, videos, illustrations, etc.) a registered Scriball user posts in any Scriball workspace (either on our website or in any one of our apps).

A "Voter" is someone who views a Story, Contribution, line or other Scriball work of authorship and votes on certain Content using the options Scriball provides.

A "Buyer" is a third party who Scriball brings to the table to purchase rights (novel, film, etc.) in a Story and all related Content.

"Content" is a term we use to describe either a Story, a Contribution and any combination of the two.

We get into the Economics and Story Rights issues below.

2. Baseline Rules. There are a few very, very basic requirements you must meet before you can use the Services. If you don't meet these, you should visit another website.
• Any use or access to the Service by anyone under the age of 13 is strictly prohibited.
• Because we respect the Scriball community, the Service is not available to any Users previously removed from the Service by Scriball.
• You must be at least 18 years old in order to sell through Scriball. We can't pay you nor can you grant rights in your Stories or Contributions if you're too young. Sorry.
• You must follow all laws. "I didn't know" is not an excuse. In particular, here we are very sensitive to laws pertaining to defamation, copyright infringement and privacy.
• You must be a good neighbor. Scriball is not a place to take out your aggression, harass people, lie, cheat, bully or steal. Read our more complete list of "Do's & Don't's" here.

Break any of the Rules and we can terminate your Scriball account, prevent you from accessing the Services (including anything you may have posted or disable your access to our apps), remove or delete any content you have posted and seek any other remedy available to us.

3. Your Rights. So long as you follow the Rules, we grant you, for your personal purposes, the following rights:
• To use the Services and access any content we display for their intended purpose.
• To "share" links or content from the Services using the sharing widgets we provide.
• If you register for a Scriball Account, to have the opportunity to become a Contributor and Author, and to modify Stories if you are given access by an Author, subject to your grant of rights to us described in Story Rights below.

These rights are not exclusive to you, but you also can't pass these rights on to another person – they need to agree to our Rules themselves. We can revoke them at any time.

4. Your Account. You do not have to register to visit our website. If you don't register, you may still have rights to view Stories or vote on lines, Scriball works of authorship or promotional events, among other things. However, if you wish to become an Author, Contributor, post or submit content to us or otherwise access special features of the Services, you need to register with us and create a user account (your "Account"). You are solely responsible for the activity that occurs on your Account, and you must keep your account password secure. See our Do's & Don't's for Rules specific to managing your Scriball Account. Remember, we'll never ask you for your password directly – so if someone does that, contact us first at customerservice@scriball.com. You can close your Account by contacting customerservice@scriball.com However, even after you close an Account, the rights granted below (see Story Rights) will survive. We can keep and use your Stories and Contributions even after you close your Account in accordance with those rights. Just because you close your Account, however, does not mean the Rules don't apply to your continued use of the Services (they do). Only by ceasing to use the Services can you terminate any continuing obligation you have to follow the Rules – except that Rules applicable to your actions using our Services in the past (such as Disputes, Other Types of Rights, Disclaimers, Limitation on Damages, Indemnity, etc.) will continue to survive.
5. Story Rights.
Authors: We provide Authors a space to write Stories that others can read, comment on, chat about, vote, modify, share and/or buy. See our FAQ to understand more about what special controls (length, Contributor veto, etc.) an Author is given to Stories she/he posts. In order for us to allow you to do that and bring Buyers who might offer opportunities to allow those Stories to reach beyond our Scriball spaces, you agree to grant us the following perpetual, irrevocable rights in your Content (as an Author or other user – except that Contributions are further subject to the specific section for Contributors below):
• An exclusive, worldwide license (with a right to sublicense) to copy, publicly display, transmit, publicly perform, modify, distribute, market and create derivative works from your Content to provide the Services to you and other users in any media and using any means. TRANSLATION: You understand that this allows us to, among other things: save your Content to our servers, modify Content to appear on different types of devices, allow other users to save your Content to their computers and share your Content across the Internet, allow Contributors to modify Stories, and allow us to share your Content with Buyers. If you are an Author, you may limit this license by making the choices available to you before you publish your Story to prevent sharing, Contributions, etc.. See our FAQ to understand more about an Author's ability to control access to a Story.
• An exclusive, worldwide license (with a right to sublicense) to sell your Content to Buyers and grant them rights to create derivative works from your Content and exploit your Content in any media using any means. TRANSLATION: You understand this allows us to pitch your Content to producers, agents, directors, investors and other third parties who are interested in purchasing rights in a Story. If they purchase those rights, they can then use your Story in any way they please – they can change it, adapt it to a different media (like a TV show, Web series, feature film or graphic novel), or do nothing with it at all. Of course, this depends on the "deal" a Buyer purchases – which may be limited in time or type of media, and those limits will be offered in Scriball's discretion.
• An exclusive, worldwide license (with a right to sublicense) to exploit your Content in other media (for instance, on television or on the Internet in a game show format) and grant the producers of such new media format the rights to create derivative works from your Content and exploit your Content using any means. TRANSLATION: You understand this allows us to pitch your Content to producers, agents, directors, investors and other third parties who are interested in creating a game show. We will use your Content in any way we need to fit the format of the game show. Ultimately, such a game show would be focused on getting a Buyer for the Content, and the same Rules will apply as if we sold the Content directly through the Services.

A word about worldwide EXCLUSIVITY: In order for us to be able to successfully market your Content, we must be the only party allowed to shop that Content. This means once you publish a Story or submit Content, you cannot (on your own) grant (for free or for money) rights in your Content to others. This may sound very restrictive, but it's the foundation of the Scriball model. You are always free to attempt to market your Content through ordinary channels if you don't like these limitations – so do not submit Content if you are not willing to part with that type of control.

A word about worldwide IRREVOCABILITY: Buyers simply won't talk to us if they think that at any point a user can take back rights they have granted to Scriball. This is why your license to us is "irrevocable" – that is, no backsies. If you are not comfortable with the idea that once you submit Content to us you can never regain completely independent control of that Content, do not submit Content through our Services.

A word about all of this being PERPETUAL worldwide: Keeping with the theme, the third important limitation on your ability to control your Content after you have submitted it to Scriball is the idea that the rights you grant to us last forever. Again, this is required to allow us to get Buyers in the door at all – they will not take a second look at any deal that is unclear with respect to how long rights are available to be used. If you cannot agree to part with control of your Content forever, do not submit Content through our Services.

Contributors: Contributors are treated slightly differently than Authors. At Scriball we operate on the fundamental premise that the Author is the originator of a Story and should (so long as they are not holding up flow of the exchange) control how that Story evolves. In order to do this, not only do we allow Authors to limit Contributors (which may include by application or in the other ways described in our FAQ – which, eventually, may include control over the total number of participating Contributors), but we need Authors to hold all rights in a Story so that they can grant us the rights described above. The result is that Contributors must agree to assign any and all rights they have in their Contributions to a Story to the Author of that Story. By submitting Contributions, you agree to the following:

• Your Contributions to a Story or other written content are specially commissioned by the Author of that Story.
• These rights and your Contributions are provided in exchange for the Author's granting you permission to access and contribute to her/his Story and any share of the Author's Story Proceeds the Author chooses to grant.
• Your Contributions are deemed "works made for hire" by that Author, making the Author the sole owner of those Contributions.
• If for some reason your Contributions do not qualify as a "work made for hire," you hereby and agree to assign, transfer, and convey all right, title and interest in and to the Contributions to the Author of the Story where they are made without any restrictions on, and without any obligation to pay additional consideration for, use or exploitation.
• You hereby and agree to irrevocably waive any other rights in the Contributions, including rights of attribution and claims based on "moral" or similar rights.
6. Economics. If we are successful in pairing a Buyer with a Story, we will share a portion of what the Buyer actually pays for that Story, less Scriball's costs involved in obtaining the sale (such as the costs of agents, travel, legal, etc.) ("Story Proceeds"). The Author, in turn, may (if we make the option available) decide to further share her/his portion with Contributors. If the option is available, the economic rights an Author chooses for Contributors will be disclosed on the Contributor application for a Story. Otherwise, Story Proceeds will be divided as follows:
• Scriball will keep 60% of all Story Proceeds per Story.
• The Author of a Story will keep 25% of all Story Proceeds per Story.
• The Contributors will keep 15% of all Story Proceeds to be proportioned based upon number of Contributions to the Story, as Scriball may reasonably determine.
• The Contributors will keep 15% of all Story Proceeds to be proportioned based upon number of Contributions to the Story, as Scriball may reasonably determine.

An Author and each Contributor's profiles must be complete and current in order to participate in sharing of Story Proceeds – we need to be able to find you and pay you in order to share! An Author or Contributor's portion of Story Proceeds will be paid by the fifteenth (15th) day of the month following the month when Scriball receives the Story Proceeds from a Buyer, via check, Paypal or other method Scriball chooses. You will be required to provide us with the information necessary to send you payments through Paypall or other type of account credit.

To be clear, you understand that the only rights to money derived from the Scriball Services that you might be entitled to receive are Story Proceeds. You understand and agree you will not be entitled to any other revenue we may generate from our Services (which are not included in the definition of Story Proceeds), such as (without limitation) advertisements, Scriball licensing fees derived from game shows, board games, sponsorships or other types of service fees not yet imagined.

We don't guarantee that Buyers will be interested in Stories at all or that any Story Proceeds will be generated by your Content. Finally, you understand that we do not and cannot control Buyers. If Buyers don't pay Scriball, we cannot pay you and you agree to release us from any liability resulting from a Buyer's failure to pay.

7. Other Types of Rights. In addition to the Stories and Contributions, you must understand the following:
• Anything that's not a Story or a Contribution found on our website or made a part of our Services (this includes our software code) belong to Scriball and its licensors. (who are the licensors here?)
• Scriball™ is our trademark, as are the names of all of our apps. All page headers, custom graphics, button icons and scripts consist of our trademarks or trade dress. Any other trademarks belong to their respective owners. Just because you see another trademark does not mean that we endorse that party's product or service, or that they endorse Scriball.
• If you send us ideas, suggestions or anything else about our Services (such as ways to improve our Services), you agree that we can use that feedback for any reason, without paying you anything, forever and throughout the world. If you feel like you deserve to be paid for your idea, don't send it to us.
• Scriball has an Infringement Policy that follows certain procedures required by law if we ever find out that someone is posting Content through our Services that doesn't belong to them. Please read and become familiar with this policy.
8. Disclaimers. Using the Internet isn't fool-proof, and Scriball is very new. Using our Services contains some risks. We need to tell you about them and let you know that Scriball is not responsible for any harm you may experience because of them – otherwise we can't offer the Services for free. Specifically:

   Risks related to third parties and issues beyond our control.

   • We cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will be unable to defeat our security measures or use your personal information for improper purposes. We will do our best to notify you if a security breach that might affect your information occurs.
   • Postings on the Internet can become public – either because you chose not to limit visibility (if that choice is available) or someone else obtains your post and re-transmits it elsewhere. Even if you delete posts, we cannot ensure that will delete anything shared by another user. Don't post anything that you consider truly private – even if we give you the opportunity to limit visibility.
   • If there are links (including in ads) to any third party site, you understand that we are not responsible for anything that happens if you follow those links. Activity on another party's site (including if you buy something from one of our advertisers) will be subject to terms of use between you and that party, and you release Scriball from any liability related to what happens on those sites.
   • You submit Stories and Contributions at your own risk. If a third party manages to access your Stories or Contributions and attempts to profit from them without our knowledge or direct involvement (this could include a rogue Scriball employee who takes actions we don't authorize), you agree that we are not responsible and you release Scriball from any liability related claims you might have resulting from such events.
   • Scriball will not be liable for failing to perform under these Rules by the occurrence of any event beyond its reasonable control, including, without limitation, a labor disturbance, an Internet outage or interruption of service, a communications outage, failure by a service provider to Rules to perform, fire, terrorism, natural disaster or war.

   LEGAL DISCLAIMERS

   • SCRIBALL PROVIDES THE CONTENT AND SERVICES ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS.
   • SCRIBALL DOES NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT THE SERVICES OR THEIR USE (I) WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR SECURE, (II) WILL BE FREE OF DEFECTS, INACCURACIES OR ERRORS OR OTHERWISE CURRENT OR COMPLETE, (III) WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, (IV) WILL OPERATE IN THE CONFIGURATION OR WITH OTHER HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE YOU USE, (V) THAT ANY DEFECTS OR ERRORS WILL BE CORRECTED (VI) LOSS OF ALL STORIES OR (VII) OR FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.
   • SCRIBALL MAKES NO WARRANTIES OTHER THAN THOSE MADE EXPRESSLY WITHIN THESE RULES, AND HEREBY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, MERCHANTABILITY AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
   • ANY CONTENT DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE SERVICES IS DOWNLOADED AT YOUR OWN RISK AND YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM SUCH DOWNLOAD.

9. LIMITATION ON DAMAGES. You may have seen language that you see in this section on other websites. This is very important language that lawyers use to say that if we ever get into a dispute, there is a "limit" on the amount of money you can get from us, or us from you. Don't use our Services if you believe we should serve as a blank check to pay for any real or imagined harm you might suffer in connection with using our Services.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL SCRIBALL, ITS AFFILIATES, DIRECTORS, ASSOCIATES, PARTNERS, AGENTS, EMPLOYEES OR REPRESENTATIVES BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DAMAGES ARISING FROM BREACH OF CONTRACT, WARRANTY, TORT OR STRICT LIABILITY FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF DATA, LOSS OF GOODWILL, FOR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, FOR PERSONAL INJURY, FOR LOSS OF PRIVACY, FOR FAILURE TO MEET ANY DUTY INCLUDING OF GOOD FAITH OR OF REASONABLE CARE, FOR NEGLIGENCE, AND FOR ANY OTHER PECUNIARY OR OTHER LOSS WHATSOEVER), ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY RELATED TO THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICES, REGARDLESS OF THE CAUSE OF ACTION ON WHICH THEY ARE BASED, EVEN IF SCRIBALL, INC. OR SUCH OTHER PERSONS OR ENTITIES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

10. Representations. Scriball is relying on you to tell us the truth and follow these Rules. In particular, we are relying on the fact that if you use our Services, you are representing to us that: (i) you have the full power and authority to enter into and follow these Rules; (ii) your agreement to and following these Rules (including the grant of Story Rights described above) does not and will not breach or conflict with any other agreement or arrangement you have with someone else or otherwise violate the law; (iii) these Rules are binding on you and enforceable against you; (iv) any Content you submit through the Services will be original to you, will not contain anything someone else previously created, and you will not infringe the patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, right of publicity or other intellectual property or proprietary right of any third party in your use of the Services.
11. Indemnity. These Rules are only as meaningful as are our ability to force you to protect us from anything you have done to break the Rules. This space is more than just a playground, so we expect you to accept responsibilities for your actions in violation of the Rules. This "indemnity" basically means that if you break the Rules and we are sued, you agree to defend us and cover any costs we incur because of your bad behavior.

Therefore, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold Scriball and its employees, representatives, agents, attorneys, affiliates, directors, officers, and members ("Indemnified Parties") harmless from any damage, loss, cost or expense (including without limitation, attorneys' fees and costs) incurred in connection with any third party claim, demand or action ("Claim") brought or asserted against any of the Indemnified Parties: (i) alleging facts or circumstances that would constitute a breach of any provision of these Rules by you; (ii) arising from or related to any other party's access and use of the Services with your unique username, password or other appropriate security code (if such codes are required to access Services in the future); or (iii) arising from or related to our use of your Content in the context of the Services.

If you are required to provide indemnification, Scriball may, in its sole and absolute discretion, control any Claim at your sole cost and expense. You may not settle, compromise or in any other manner dispose of any Claim without Scriball's consent.

12. Consent to Communications from Us. By providing us with your email address, you agree that we may send you emails related to your Account and to the Services generally, and that we may send any notices we are required to send legally via email instead of via post. If you do not want to receive such general emails, you can opt-out by following the instructions in our messages.
13. Changes to the Services and Rules. The Internet changes fast. Laws and regulations that apply to the Internet change too. We may change these Rules at any time, but we will place a notice at the top of these Rules stating when they were last revised. If you have registered an Account, we will also send you an email whenever we change the Rules. Finally, we may change or discontinue the Services or any part of them at any time.
14. Disputes. If you have any dispute with us, we hope to first work it out informally. You agree that before taking any formal action, you contact us at customerservice@scriball.com and allow 60 days to pass, during which we will attempt to reach an amicable settlement of any issue. If your dispute continues despite those efforts and after that time has passed, because we have substantial ties to the State of California and we all want disputes among users to be resolved consistently, you agree:
• these Rules will be governed by the laws of California, without taking to account any rules it has about how laws of another place might apply, unless U.S. Federal law applies.
• These Rules and each of its parts evidence a transaction involving interstate commerce, and the United States Arbitration Act apply in all cases and govern the interpretation and enforcement of the arbitration rules and arbitration proceedings. Any claims arising out of, relating to, or connected with these Rules must be asserted individually in binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association ("AAA") in accordance with its Commercial Arbitration Rules and the AAA Supplementary Procedures for Consumer-Related Disputes (including without limitation utilizing desk, phone or video conference proceedings where appropriate and permitted to mitigate costs of travel). The arbitrator shall not conduct any form of class or collective arbitration nor join or consolidate claims by or for individuals. The Arbitrator, and not any federal, state, or local court or agency, shall have exclusive authority to resolve any dispute relating to the interpretation, applicability, enforceability or formation of these Rules including, but not limited to, any claim that all or any part of these Rules is void or voidable. Judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction. There are only two exceptions to this arbitration agreement.
1. First, if we reasonably believe that you have in any manner violated or threatened to violate our intellectual property rights, we may seek injunctive or other appropriate relief in any court of competent jurisdiction.
2. Second, any claim of $500 or less may, at the option of the claiming party, be resolved in small claims court in Los Angeles County, California, if the claim and the parties are within the jurisdiction of the small claims court.
• By agreeing to these Rules, you hereby irrevocably waive any right you may have to a court trial (other than small claims court) or to serve as a representative, as a private attorney general, or in any other representative capacity, or to participate as a member of a class of claimants, in any lawsuit, arbitration or other proceeding filed against us and/or related third parties.
• If you have a dispute, you must bring it within one (1) calendar year from the day when it first arose. If you don't bring it during that time, you agree that it will be barred.
15. Miscellaneous. The following provisions address miscellaneous issues that, while important, don't fit nicely anywhere else.
• Software made available through the Services may be subject to United States export control laws, which state that certain software cannot be downloaded to certain countries or to anyone on the U.S. Treasury Department's list of Specially Designated Nationals or the U.S. Commerce Department's Table of Deny Orders (and by using the Services you represent you are not on any of those lists).
• These Rules any part of the Rules linked from this page contains the entire understanding of you and Scriball regarding your use of the Services, and supersedes all other agreements (if any) between us.
• These Rules will be binding upon each party hereto and its successors and permitted assigns. These Rules, and all of your rights and obligations under them, will not be assignable or transferable by you without Scriball's written consent.
• It may take us some time to respond to certain issues, and sometimes we may let little issues slide. That said, no failure or delay by us in exercising any right, power or privilege under these Rules will operate as a waiver, nor will any single or partial exercise of any right, or waiver in a single instance, will apply to a similar circumstance in the future.
• Just because we may pay you Story Proceeds does not make you our employee. You and Scriball are independent contractors, and no agency, partnership, joint venture, employee-employer relationship is intended or created by these Rules.
• If we may have overstepped our authority in writing these Rules, you agree that anyone interpreting them should re-construct them to fit our intention within the limits of the law. Also, the invalidity or unenforceability of any single part of these Rules will not affect the validity or enforceability of any other part of these Rules, all of which will remain in full force and effect.
• WE WILL DO OUR BEST TO RESPOND TO ISSUES WITHIN A REASONABLE AND CUSTOMARY PERIOD OF TIME.

Our goal is to work hard to make Scriball a destination to meet with friends, collaborate and share personal and creative stories. Following these Rules will help us achieve that goal.

Now, let's hear what you have to share with us!