Leanpub Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (the “Terms of Service” or “Terms”) are effective as of April 21, 2010, and were last updated on February 14, 2024. These Terms of Service may be updated from time to time, and we recommend users check them regularly.

Leanpub (“Leanpub”) is a service of Ruboss Technology Corporation (“Ruboss”), a corporation incorporated in British Columbia, Canada. These Terms of Service govern your access to and use of Leanpub, the Leanpub website, applications, public APIs and client software (collectively referred to as the “Site”, the “Service” or the “Services”), and any information, texts, graphics, or other materials uploaded, downloaded or appearing on the Services, including without limitation videos, code samples, Course material or any other content made available for download or streaming, as well as PDF files, EPUB files, MOBI files, LPUB files and other formats of ebooks, and any other forms of content added and/or made available for sale (free or otherwise) on the Site (all of which is collectively referred to in the Terms as “Content”).

YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF LEANPUB IS CONDITIONAL UPON YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF, AND COMPLIANCE WITH, THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS. BY ACCESSING OR USING THE SERVICES YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS. RUBOSS RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CHANGE THESE TERMS AT ANY TIME, AND YOUR CONTINUED USE OF LEANPUB, OR ACCESS TO THE CONTENT, CONSTITUTES BINDING ACCEPTANCE OF ANY AND ALL CHANGES TO THESE TERMS.

Any person who accesses the Site or Services (the “User” or “Users”), including those who purchase, manage, build and deliver Content to be made available to other Users, such as the author of a book made available for sale on Leanpub, must check the Terms of Service regularly for updates. Ruboss is not liable for any failure to notify users of a change in the Terms of Service, and is not responsible for ensuring users have read and understood the Terms of Service.

1. Description of Services

Leanpub is a platform for the creation and dissemination of works including ebooks and courses (the “Product” or “Products”). Leanpub is built to encourage content creators to begin publishing and selling their work before it is complete, in a process called Lean Publishing. The Lean Publishing process includes a number of potential improvements to the conventional publishing process. For example, it allows authors to begin building a community of readers earlier in the life cycle of a work such as an ebook; it allows readers to provide feedback to the author to improve the quality of their book; it allows for creative pricing incentives, such as offering a work for a lower price to early adopters; and it can provide encouragement to an author to complete a work they would otherwise have abandoned.

2. Basic Terms

2.1 Services

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 without notice at any time and without any liability to you. This includes, but is not limited to, the right to create limits on the use of the Service, and storage of files on the Service, at the sole discretion of Ruboss.

2.2 User Responsibility

Each User is responsible for their use of the Services, for any Content they post to the Services, and for any consequences thereof. The Content you submit, post, or display may be viewable by other Users of the Service and through third party services and websites. You should only provide Content that you are comfortable sharing with others under these Terms.

Content made available via the Service is the sole responsibility of the User that makes the content available. This includes but is not limited to completed books and unfinished or in-progress books. Ruboss accepts no liability of any kind in relation to any and all Content posted to the Service (published, in-progress, or otherwise).

2.3 Types of User-Generated Content for Sale

There are various types of User-generated Content available for sale on Leanpub. These included but are not limited to:

Books or Ebooks: Original works that may be presented in PDF, EPUB and HTML or other digital formats that may be read on computers and/or hand-held devices and may be comprised of any one or more of the following types of content, without excluding any other type of content: text, images, video, music, code samples, figures, and tables.

Bundles: Groupings of two or more ebooks by one or more Account Holder(s), available for purchase as a single item.

Courses: Content made available for viewing and/or sale as part of Leanpub’s Courses service. This includes, but is not limited to, Content such as multiple-choice questions with which Users may interact, and in relation to which Users may be assessed and assigned grades, automatically or manually. Users may also be given certificates in relation to what is deemed by the Course Author or another relevant Leanpub User to be successful completion of, for example, a set of questions, with the measure of success to be determined by a relevant Leanpub User.

Tracks: Tracks are comprised of one or more Courses. Users may be given certificates in relation to what is deemed by the Track Author or another relevant Leanpub User to be successful completion of the Track, with the measure of success to be determined by a relevant Leanpub User.

Extras: Digital files made available for distribution via Leanpub to Users in Packages. Extras are provided as secondary Content that is packaged with a principal Product, such as a Book or Course. Extras may include videos, digital photos, digital artwork, source files, code samples, apps, templates, worksheets, or similar forms of Content. Extras may not include offers of services (such as consulting services), software licenses, or anything other than a form of digital Content. Without notification, Ruboss may at any time, and at its sole discretion, remove any Extra, and also any principal Product to which the Extra has been added in a Package, from sale through the Services, if Ruboss deems an Extra to be in violation with these Terms.

Packages: A group of items for sale as a single supply on Leanpub, consisting of a principal Product (such as a Book or a Course), and in addition, at least a single Extra.

2.4 Leanpub Accounts

Signing up on Leanpub involves an arrangement by which a user is given personalized access to a website or application by entering a username and password (an “Account”) and potentially other information.

People use Leanpub Accounts for a variety of purposes. Different features may be made available to Users based on how they use Leanpub. For the purposes of clarity in these Terms, on occasion Accounts may be referenced according to a specific use or function, as follows:

• Author Account: An Account which includes editorial access to at least one Product.
• Cause Account: A non-profit or charitable organization that has applied for and been accepted to the Leanpub for Causes program after having accepted the terms of the Leanpub for Causes program.
• Organization Account: An Account which includes editorial access to at least one Product under the designation of “Organization.”
• University Account: An Account which includes editorial access to at least one Product under the designation of “University.”
• User Account: An account that does not include access to Author Account features or Organization Account features. A User Account Holder may purchase and read Leanpub books and otherwise interact with Authors, Organizations, and other Users on the Site, including reader discussion forums.

2.4.1 Restrictions on Account Names, Usernames, Product Names, and URL Slugs

Users are not required to use their own names for their Account names or their usernames.

However, there are restrictions on the Account names, Usernames, Product names (the “Name” or “Names”), and URL slugs that Users are permitted to use. (A URL slug is the part of the web address that comes after the domain, for example after “.com”.)

Users are not permitted to use a trademarked word or the name of any non-fictional person or organization in the Name of their account or of one of their Products or in the slug part of the URL for an Account or Product, unless they have the demonstrable authority to do so. Since Leanpub sells books and courses, we do not permit the use of such names in parody Accounts or Products.

For the avoidance of doubt, please note that this restriction includes the word “Leanpub”, which is a trademark of Ruboss. Users may not use the word “Leanpub” or any variations of capitalization (e.g. leanpub, LeanPub, leanPub) in their Account name, Username or any of their Product names, or in the slug part of the URL for an Account or Product. Besides protecting our trademark, we also enforce this restriction to reduce the possibility of confusion on the part of our users.

Furthermore, it is not permitted to use a Name or URL slug that, taken on its own, is associated with a disaster or pandemic or historical event, or any thing of a similar nature. We understand that many Users may do this for benevolent purposes (such as a giveaway), but all Names and URL slugs must be clearly differentiated from a named disaster or pandemic or historical event, in part to prevent confusion, or the perception of poor taste. For example, you may not use the word “coronavirus” or “COVID-19” as an entire Name (of an Account name, Username or Product name) or as the entire URL slug of a product. For guidance in this area, a Product with the title “COVID-19” and the URL slug of “covid19” would not be acceptable; however, a book with the title “A Guide to Self-Isolating”, the subtitle “How to Stay Home Alone”, and the URL slug “guide-to-self-isolating”, would be acceptable.

It is not permitted to create URL slugs that may be misleading (for example, a URL slug that is too similar to an existing Leanpub book URL slug or book title). It is also not permitted to create URL slugs for the purpose of “squatting” (for example, choosing the URL slug with no good faith intention of publishing a book with a title related to the URL slug).

Leanpub may also “reserve” URL slugs so they may not be used by any Users. Ruboss may retroactively reserve a URL slug, even if it was not reserved at the time the User created the Product with the URL slug, for example.

In accordance with these Terms, Ruboss may, at its sole discretion, and without any obligation to notify you, change any URL slug or slugs you have created, and change each one to another URL slug of our choosing.

If Ruboss, at its sole discretion, deems a Name or URL slug to be in violation of any one or more of these restrictions, Ruboss may rename or close any Account or Product associated with a violation, and refund any associated purchases.

2.4.2 Deleting Author Accounts

If we receive a request from a User to delete the User’s Author Account, in the interest of expediency, we will refund all refundable purchases of Products of which the User is the Primary Author (see Section 2.5 “Types of Leanpub Users” below for details concerning Primary Author status).

2.4.3 Death of Account Owner

If the owner of an Account dies, ownership of the Account passes to a new owner according to the specifical legal circumstances in each case. To be clear, upon the death of the owner of an Account, we do not “lock” the Account or unpublish any associated Product or Products (if any), unless we receive formal notice of a request to do so by a person authorized to make such a request.

2.4.4 Abandoned Accounts

If, for three consecutive years, there is no activity by the User, and there are no Product sales associated with the User, Ruboss may, at its sole discretion, and without notification to the associated User, classify the User’s Account as abandoned (the “Abandoned Account”).

Actions that constitute activity by the User include ordinary User activity, such as purchasing a Product and adding it to the User’s Account.

If an account is classified as an Abandoned Account, Ruboss may restrict access to the Account, close the Account, and apply other measures to the account, for example regarding any royalties owing the User, as set out in section 2.4.4.1 of these Terms.

To reactivate an Abandoned Account, please send an email to hello@leanpub.com with a request to reactivate the Account.

2.4.4.1 Abandoned Accounts with Royalties Owing and the Inactivity Fee

If there are any royalties owing to a User when their Account becomes an Abandoned Account, royalty payments to the Abandoned Account will be suspended, and any royalties owing will be withheld.

It costs money, time, and resources to maintain Leanpub Accounts, particularly those with unpaid royalties. For this reason, for any Account that is an Abandoned Account with royalties owing, we will subtract the amount of $10 per year from the amount of unpaid royalties owing to the User (the “Inactivity Fee”). If there is less than $10 left in unpaid royalties on the Abandoned Account at the time an Inactivity Fee is applied, then we will subtract that amount from the amount of unpaid royalties to bring the amount of royalties owing to zero, and no further Inactivity Fee will be applied to the Account.

2.5 Types of Leanpub Users

For the purposes of clarity, in these Terms Leanpub Users may be referenced according to specific functions or responsibilities, as follows:

• Account Holder: The individual person who created a Leanpub Account who is therefore the owner of the account (the “Original Account Holder”), or the person to whom ownership of the account has been transferred by the Original Account Holder. A Leanpub account may belong to an organization and be used by a representative of the organization on the organization’s behalf.
• Author: A User who has created a Product they have made available on Leanpub, or who has played a role in the creation of such a Product.
• Co-Author: One of the Authors of a Product with multiple Authors.
• Minor: A person under the age of majority in the relevant jurisdiction or who is otherwise designated as a minor in the relevant jurisdiction.
• Original Account Holder: The individual who creates a Leanpub account, or the organization on whose behalf an individual creates a Leanpub account.
• Primary Author: The Author or owner of a Product granted unique authority over various aspects of a Product or an advertisement on Leanpub of an Author’s Product or Products (the “Placement” or “Placements”), including but not limited to the original division of royalties amongst co-authors, any subsequent change in the division of royalties, the granting or the revocation of co-authorship status to another Leanpub User or Users, and any other authority granted by Leanpub as defined in these Terms or otherwise granted by Leanpub, subject to alteration or revocation by Leanpub at any time and for any reason. An Organization or a University may be regarded as the Primary Author of a Product. Please note that the authority of a Primary Author to change settings like these on Leanpub is in no way related to any rights associated with any Content, including copyright ownership; in other words, a User having Primary Author status on Leanpub says nothing about their copyright ownership of any Content both in itself, and relative to any Co-Authors of the Content. If you are a Primary Author and you remove a Co-Author from a Product, when that Co-Owner has a valid copyright ownership claim to the content, you will be in violation of these Terms (see the Section 8 below, on copyright and related matters).
• Organization: Any User who holds or has held an Organization Account.
• Reader: A User who accesses a Leanpub Product. A Reader may or may not be an account holder.
• University: Any User who holds or has held a University Account.

2.6 Responsibility For Completion

Responsibility for the completion of any Product that is initially published in-progress is exclusively the responsibility of the User or Users who manage the Product on Leanpub (the Product’s “Author” or “Authors”), as well as the Users who hold Organization or University Accounts under which a Product is managed. Ruboss is not obligated to offer a refund or refunds related to any purchase of an in-progress Product that is not later completed. The publication and sale of an in-progress Product does not represent a promise on the part of Ruboss or the User or Users responsible for the production of the Content.

2.7 Minimum Age Requirements

You must be at least eighteen (18) years of age, or the age of majority in the jurisdiction where you reside if that age is greater than 18, to be an Account Holder with related access to the Site and Services. If a parent or guardian becomes aware that their child has breached this condition and provided Ruboss with personally identifiable information without their consent, the parent or guardian should contact us at privacy@leanpub.com. If we become aware that someone who does not meet our Minimum Age Requirements is acting as an Account Holder, and has provided us with personally identifiable information, we will make reasonable efforts to delete such information from our files.

Minors are prohibited from creating Leanpub accounts. A Minor may only access the Service through an Account held by their parent or legal guardian. All payments must only be made by/to persons who are not Minors. Ruboss disclaims all responsibility and liability for Users who are Minors. Any and all responsibility for the actions of a Minor, and the consequences thereof, are the responsibility of the parent or guardian.

A parent or guardian of a Minor may create an Account and publish work on behalf of a Minor, as long as the parent or guardian manages the Account, and is responsible for all actions associated with the Account (this includes, but is not limited to, publishing, purchasing, updating, and downloading).

Children under the age of 13 are prohibited from accessing or using the Site or Services, regardless of parental approval.

Due to the presence or potential presence of mature content, Minors are prohibited from accessing the Fiction genre of Erotica. For the purposes of these Terms, “Erotica” is defined as literature or art or any Content intended to arouse sexual desire, containing mature content.

Erotica Products are required to be categorized as such by the Primary Author, and Ruboss reserves the right to remove content or terminate memberships, as stated in Section 14 of these Terms, for any violation of this policy. Users are required to verify they are over 18 years of age before accessing the Erotica genre on the Site. Ruboss is not responsible or liable for any User who is a Minor who fraudulently accesses this genre. Parents and guardians who give Minors access to the Site and Services are responsible for ensuring the Content viewed is appropriate, and that the Minor does not misrepresent their age to access the Erotica genre. If we become aware that a Minor is accessing Erotica, the Account Holder will be notified via email, and further action may be taken at Ruboss’ sole discretion.

2.8 Your Ability to Accept Terms

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

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 Canadian law, or other applicable jurisdictions. You may use the Services only in compliance with these Terms and all applicable local, provincial, state, national, and international laws, rules and regulations. If you are unwilling or unable to be bound by these Terms, you are not permitted to use the Services, and must immediately stop using the Services.

Furthermore, by accepting the Terms, you represent and warrant that your use of the Services does not require any actions, legal or otherwise, to be performed by Ruboss. These actions include, but are not limited to, Ruboss entering into a signed contract; Ruboss completing and/or sending any forms (such as a vendor information form, a tax-related form, or any similar document or process); or Ruboss providing you or anyone else with any forms (such as a certificate of fiscal residence, or any similar document).

2.9 Product State

A Leanpub Product is always in a definite product state (the “State” or “Product State”) that may affect how it is presented or not presented on Leanpub, whether or not it is currently published, etc. For example, a Product may be in the “Published” State or the “Unpublished” state, and this may affect how it is presented and accessed on Leanpub.

The meaning of Product States is determined by Leanpub and may change at any time for any reason. New States may be added and old States removed, with State reassignment carried out by Leanpub at its sole discretion and without warning. Product States include Published, Unpublished, Embargoed, Retired, Forcibly Retired, and Deleted, amongst others.

2.9.1 The Forcibly Retired State

The Forcibly Retired Product State is designed to address situations in which Content is deemed by Ruboss, at its sole discretion, to be Content that we do not want to be available for sale or display on our Site. When a Product is set to the Forcibly Retired State, various restrictions apply, including but not limited to the following:

• Any Author associated with the Product will have their access to the Product on Leanpub revoked
• Users will not be able to buy or view the Product on the public Leanpub Site (although Users who have purchased a Product that has been Forcibly Retired may retain access to the Product in their Leanpub Library)
• At Ruboss’s discretion, the URL for the Product will be restricted from future use in association with another Product on Leanpub

2.9.2 Writing Modes

Besides the Product States which apply to a Leanpub Product, there are currently eight different writing modes on Leanpub:

1. Dropbox
2. GitHub
3. Bitbucket
4. Browser
5. Visual Editor
6. Google Docs
7. Upload
8. Cold Storage

The number and type of writing modes on Leanpub is subject to change.

If Leanpub removes a writing mode, it will, at its sole discretion, convert books into a different writing mode or grandfather the writing mode for existing authors.

So, for example, if the Visual Editor was removed, Leanpub could do one of the following:

1. Automatically convert those books which used that mode into using the Browser mode (or a different mode)
2. Require the author to convert their books which used that mode into the Browser mode (or a different mode) the next time they edited their book.
3. Just keep the Visual Editor around for books which already used it.

This is not just a hypothetical example, by the way: the Visual Editor and the Google Docs writing modes are being removed in 2021.

2.9.3 Output Folders

Separate from writing modes is the concept of an Output Folder. Leanpub currently offers the feature of automatically copying generated ebook files into an Output Folder. Currently an Output Folder is a folder on Dropbox, but this is subject to change.

Leanpub may change the nature of Output Folders at any time, or remove the feature entirely.

2.9.4 The Cold Storage Writing Mode

There are a number of Writing Modes on Leanpub, including Dropbox Writing Mode. In Dropbox Writing Mode, the book manuscript folder is stored in a Dropbox folder which is shared between Leanpub and the author(s) of the book.

A book is considered Inactive if it has not been previewed or published in an extended period of time. This amount of time is currently six (6) months, but this may be increased or decreased at Leanpub’s sole discretion.

If a book in Dropbox Writing Mode is Inactive, Leanpub may change its Writing Mode into the Cold Storage Writing Mode.

When we move a Product to the Cold Storage state, we attempt to create a new version of the Product’s manuscript folder using our Versions feature. We then remove ourselves from the Dropbox folder which is shared with Leanpub and the author(s).

There are two ways to restore a Product from Cold Storage:

1. Go to the Preview or Publish page for the Product, where you will find relevant instructions for sharing the Dropbox folder containing the manuscript with Leanpub. Doing this attempts to restore your manuscript to the version in the Dropbox folder which you share with Leanpub.
2. Go to the Writing Mode page, where you can just change into any of the other Writing Modes. Doing this will start with a manuscript folder containing the most recent version of the files which we have. (This is the same as the most recent version on your manuscript versions page.) If you happen to have newer files than these files, you can just copy any newer manuscript files into this new folder.

2.10 Abusive Speech

Any User or person who engages in abusive speech or other abusive actions in their use of the Services, or in their contact with Leanpub Users, or employees, officers, or contractors of Ruboss (an “Abusive Speaker”), may have their access to Leanpub suspended or blocked.

If a User or person is deemed by Ruboss to have engaged in abusive speech, Ruboss may suspend access to, or terminate, a User’s Leanpub account. Ruboss may also take measures to protect Users, or employees, officers, or contractors of Ruboss from being contacted by the Abusive Speaker. This may include blocking the Abusive Speaker’s email address from being able to send emails to any @leanpub.com email address, or blocking the email address from being used on “Email the Author(s)” forms, along with any other relevant action Ruboss deems appropriate.

This policy means that, for example, if you send an email to hello@leanpub.com with abusive speech and/or other abusive content, without any requirement to respond to you or give you any warning, we may block hello@leanpub.com from receiving emails sent from your email address, and/or block your email address from being used to create a new Account, or access an existing Account.

The purpose of this policy is not just to stop abusive speech carried out in association with the Services, but also to prevent such abusive speech from occurring in association with Ruboss. Therefore, this policy extends to the world outside direct use of the Services, and includes any contact with persons associated with Ruboss or any of its services. For example, if we discover abusive speech in your social media interactions, even if those interactions have nothing to do with Ruboss, we may invoke this policy and suspend access to an associated Leanpub account, and/or block any future use of the Services by the Abusive Speaker, to the extent we are able to do so.

Ruboss reserves the right to determine, at its own discretion, what constitutes abusive speech, and to invoke this policy without warning or any communication whatsoever. For guidance on this matter, please read section 9 of these Terms, “Content Policy;” however, that section does not limit Ruboss’s right to determine whether an activity constitutes abusive speech.

An example of abusive speech is racist speech. Another example is threatening an individual with death, or any form of physical violence. The threat does not have to be direct or take textual form in order to be determined by Ruboss to be abusive speech.

The decision to invoke this policy and take action with respect to a User or person is entirely at the discretion of Ruboss.

2.11 Code of Conduct and Statements Involving Personally Identifying Information

Leanpub books and any associated public repositories will not be used to make personal attacks or statements which are defamatory or potentially libellous toward any other person, regardless of whether they have an Account. This is especially true if there is enough Personally Identifying Information to identify the individual or individuals being mentioned.

The determination that these Terms have been violated is at the sole discretion of Ruboss. Any such occurrence in a book or public repository may result in Ruboss deleting that Leanpub book, and potentially terminating any Account(s) we deem to be associated with the occurrence.

Leanpub does not exist to be used as a weapon in interpersonal disputes. Using Leanpub is this way is a gross misuse of our platform, which we have zero tolerance for.

2.12 Artificial Inflation of Sales Counts

The artificial inflation of sales counts (“Artificial Sales Inflation”) for Products is prohibited. This constitutes a violation of these Terms and may result in Account suspension or termination, at the sole discretion of Ruboss. Examples of Artificial Sales Inflation include, but are not limited to, making free purchases of your own Book using fake or otherwise unused email accounts. Whether or not a case of Artificial Sales Inflation has taken place is a determination made solely at the discretion of Ruboss.

If we suspect Artificial Sales Inflation is taking place, or has taken place, in association with a Product, without any obligation to notify you, we may suspend the ability of customers to purchase the Product until we have completed our investigation of the matter. At its sole discretion, Ruboss may cancel any purchase we deem or suspect to be associated with a case of Artificial Sales Inflation.

2.13 Chief Compliance Officer

Ruboss has a Chief Compliance Officer (the “CCO”) who functions as a point of contact for the enforcement of these Terms, and for making reasonable efforts to ensure Ruboss’s compliance with all applicable laws and regulations generally. It is the responsibility of the Chief Compliance Officer to see that Ruboss responds in a timely manner to reasonable reports of potential violations of these Terms, and to resolve issues with Users relating to potential violations of these Terms, and any actions or determinations undertaken by Ruboss in response to potential violations of these Terms.

The CCO is also the Agent of Notice and the Data Protection Officer for Ruboss.

To contact the Ruboss CCO via email, send an email to hello@leanpub.com with the subject: “Attention: Chief Compliance Officer.” To contact the CCO via post, you may send a letter to the address presented at the end of these Terms.

2.14 The Leanpub API

The Leanpub API is for the personal, non-commercial use of Leanpub Users. Its use may be restricted to Users with a paid Membership. By “personal, non-commercial use”, we mean that a User can use the Leanpub API for their own Products (for example, to preview and publish them, viewing their sales, and generating coupons), but no one is permitted to use the Leanpub API as the basis for building and selling software.

Access to the Leanpub API may be revoked for any User, at any time, for any reason.

2.15 Suspending Accounts

AT ITS SOLE DISCRETION, IF RUBOSS DETERMINES THAT A USER MAY HAVE VIOLATED THESE TERMS OR OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES, OR OTHERWISE ENGAGED IN ANY BEHAVIOUR DEEMED UNACCEPTABLE BY RUBOSS, RUBOSS MAY, WITHOUT NOTIFYING THE USER, TAKE ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING ACTIONS, OR ANY OTHER ACTION DEEMED BY RUBOSS TO BE APPROPRIATE, BASED ON THE DETAILS OF THE VIOLATION:

• REMOVAL FROM THE SERVICES OF ANY ASSOCIATED BOOK, BUNDLE, EXTRA, OR PACKAGE AND ASSOCIATED MATERIAL;
• REMOVAL FROM THE SERVICES OF ANY OTHER BOOK, BUNDLE, EXTRA, OR PACKAGE AND ASSOCIATED MATERIAL THAT IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE USER OR THE UNACCEPTABLE ACTIVITY;
• DISABLING OF THE USER’S ACCESS TO THEIR LEANPUB ACCOUNT OR ACCOUNTS;
• REPORTING THE USER TO LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES;
• REFUNDING ALL REFUNDABLE PURCHASES OF ANY OR ALL OF THE USER’S PRODUCTS IN ALL OF THEIR ACCOUNTS; AND
  • A PERMANENT BAN OF THE USER FROM USE OF THE SERVICES, INCLUDING ANY ACCOUNTS OWNED BY THE USER AT THE TIME THE BAN IS INITIATED, AND ANY FUTURE ACCOUNT OR ACCOUNTS CREATED BY THE BANNED USER.

2.16 Product Categories

Leanpub Products may be associated with a category or a number of categories (the “Category” or “Categories”). Categories help people discover Products based on their individual interests.

At its sole discretion, Ruboss may create, rename, or remove any Category, and Ruboss may choose to associate any Product with any Category or Categories. In addition, Ruboss may also remove or change any Category that a User has chosen to associate with a Product, if we believe the associated Category does not match our perception of the Product’s purpose or nature.

2.17 AI Services and Other Author Services

Ruboss offers special paid sets of services to authors (the “Author Services” and “AI Services”). The specific services offered for each set of Author Services and AI Services is set out here https://leanpub.com/translate_ai/buy. The specific services that will be provided are those that are set out at the time of purchase, and are subject to change at any time, at Ruboss’s sole discretion.

The Author Services and AI Services are provided primarily for the purpose of saving authors time and effort using third-party services, such as OpenAI GPT-4 and Amazon KDP. Since the Author Services and AI Services involve dealing with third-party services, Ruboss is subject to the terms and availability of, and changes to, those third-party services. For example, the timing according to which we receive royalties from the third-party services is not under our control, and the third-party services may withhold royalties at their discretion, or otherwise reject or remove and Products for which AI Services are purchased.

While we will endeavour to deliver the Author Services and AI Services promptly, it is not permitted to submit numerous changes and demand frequent updates to the third-party services. For example, in typical cases, publishing a Book on Amazon will be a one-time effort, and we will not publish changes to the Book once it is set up properly.

Ruboss may cease support of a User’s purchased Author Services and AI Services at any time, at its sole discretion, particularly for violation of these Terms of Service, or violation of the Terms of Service of a third-party service. For example, if a User is discovered to have engaged in plagiarism, Ruboss may remove a Product published on Amazon, and cease all royalty payments to the User. Ruboss is under no obligation to provide a refund for withdrawn support of the AI Services.

2.17.1 Use of Your Content to Develop and Improve AI Services

AI Services may involve the use of third-party products and services, for example OpenAI services. While we are interacting with third parties and their products to provide AI Services, we will be constantly seeking to improve our own in-house “prompt engineering” and other skills and knowledge. By using AI Services, you consent to the development and improvement by Ruboss of proprietary in-house procedures that involve the use of your Content.

2.17.2 Exclusion of Erotica from AI Services

Content classified as Erotica is not eligible for AI Services.

2.18 The Annual Reader Membership Drive Email List

We do an annual “Reader Membership Drive” to notify some Users of the advantages they can get from buying a Reader Membership. If you purchase a Product for free, and you do not have a Reader Membership, you may be added to our Reader Membership Drive mailing list. If you receive an email regarding the annual Reader Membership Drive, you will see an option in the email to unsubscribe from the list.

3. Account Memberships

Account memberships give Users access to restricted features and privileges on Leanpub (the “Membership” or “Memberships”).

3.1 Types of Memberships and Associated Features and Privileges

Ruboss offers the following Memberships:

• Free Membership
• Reader Membership
• Standard Membership
• Pro Membership

The features and privileges associated with each Membership are set out on the Membership page here: https://leanpub.com/membership.

The features and privileges associated with a Membership may be changed by Ruboss at any time. Typically, this will involve the addition of new features and privileges, but Membership-only features and privileges may also be removed changed or revoked at any time, and without notification.

3.1 Membership Payments

Memberships may be free, or they may require payment. Payments may only be made online via the services offered by Ruboss.

3.1.1 Country Restrictions on Recurring Membership Payment Terms

Some countries may not permit recurring monthly recurring billing. If your country does not permit monthly billing of this kind, then you are not permitted obtain a Membership that requires recurring payments from you.

3.2 Membership Periods

A Membership may expire after a set period of time (the “Membership Period”). For example, an annual Membership will expire after 365 days. At the end of the Membership Period, a User must make another Membership payment to regain access to the Membership features and privileges.

3.3 Paid Membership Cancellation

A User may cancel a paid Membership at any time. When you cancel a paid Membership, your Account will be given a Free Membership.

If you are concerned about the impact that the cancellation of your Membership may have, please see our Help Center or contact us at hello@leanpub.com.

Ruboss reserves the right to cancel any free or paid Membership at any time, at its sole discretion, for suspected violation of these Terms, or for any other reason.

If a scheduled recurring payment for a paid Membership is not received by Ruboss, your paid Membership will be cancelled.

3.4 Membership Price and Refund Policy

Membership prices are set out on the Membership page here: https://leanpub.com/membership.

Membership purchases may be refunded in accordance with our Refund Policy as set out in section 12 of these terms (“Refunds”).

3.5 Reader Membership Privileges Regarding the Reader Membership Revenue Pool

A Reader Membership allows a User to purchase, for free, Products that are eligible to receive revenue allocations from the Reader Membership Revenue Pool. Based on the Free purchases they make during their Membership Period, a portion of a User’s Reader Membership payment or payments will be added to the Reader Membership Revenue Pool and shared with eligible Authors, as set out in section 11.2.7 of these Terms.

3.5.1 Eligilbity for Receiving Revenue from the Reader Membership Revenue Pool

Any Product may be included for eligiblity to receive revenue allocations from the Reader Membership Revenue Pool.

By default, the owner (or owners) of any Product with a Minimum Price set to Free are eligible to receive revenue allocations from the Reader Membership Revenue Pool for Free purchases of the Product.

However, any Product may be excluded from eligibility for receiving revenue from the Rader Membership Revenue Pool (the “Excluded Product” or “Excluded Products”), even if its Minimum Price is set to Free. A Product may be excluded from eligiblity when the owner of the Product (typically the Primary Author) opts the Product out of eligibility, or it may excluded at the discretion of Ruboss.

At any time, a Product may be opted out of, or opted in to, eligibilty for revenue allocations from the Reader Membership Revenue Pool.

All Free purchases of Products that are made using Free coupons, and all Free purchases of Products which are opted out of the Membership revenue Pool, are excluded from earning revenue from the Reader Membership Revenue Pool.

At its sole discretion, at any time and and without notification, Ruboss may opt any Product out of eligibilty for revenue allocations from the Reader Membership Revenue Pool.

4. Advertisements

4.1 Third Party Advertisements

The Services may include advertisements, which may be targeted with respect 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 without notice. 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 that Content or information is submitted by you or others.

These advertisements may include, but are not limited to, advertisements for other Content uploaded by other users to Leanpub regardless of any negative impact this may have to you.

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 Product(s) and in the Services such as an online service facilitated by Leanpub where Users can interact with one another in a public format (the “Forum” or “Forums”) used for your book.

Ruboss disclaims all responsibility or liability for any losses or damages associated with or as a consequence of advertisements on the Site.

4.2 Free and Paid Placements and the Leanpub Advertising Program

Authors and Organizations may choose to advertise their Product or Products via free or paid Placements (including the “Free Placement,” “Free Placements,” “Paid Placement” and “Paid Placements”) that Leanpub may offer and arrange. This includes Placements purchased for display on The Shelf (the “Shelf Spot” or “Shelf Spots”) and/or any other such offering (such as bids for Google Ads placements), and placements made via the opt-in Leanpub Advertising Program.

Authors and Organizations may choose to opt in to the Leanpub Advertising Program to boost awareness of their work by being featured in special locations reserved for the Leanpub Advertising Program such as the Site, mailing list emails, social media, or other external channels. The percentage of each sale allocated to a User eligible to receive royalties associated with the sale of a Product or Products on Leanpub (the “Royalty Rate”) for sales made through the Leanpub Advertising Program may vary depending on the terms of the specific Placement. Ruboss does not guarantee that opting in to the Advertising program will increase sales or awareness of any Product or other Content. Ruboss reserves the right to modify the Leanpub Advertising Program, and the terms of any Placement, Free or Paid, at any time and at its sole discretion. As a courtesy, any changes to this program will typically be communicated to the Users participating in a Placement.

The rules that govern the authority to make changes to a Placement, including its status, are the same as those that apply to the Primary Author of a Product. The Primary Author of a Placement may opt out of a Placement at any time. You must be the Primary Author of a Product in order to associate a Product with a Placement. For example, if you have purchased a spot on The Shelf, you must be the Primary Author of a Book in order associate the Book with your space on The Shelf.

To be clear, if you have purchased a space on The Shelf and have been using it to advertise a Book of which you are the Primary Author, and your status with respect to the Book is changed such that you are no longer the Primary Author of the Book, the Book will no longer be associated with your space on The Shelf.

Paid Placements are non-refundable. Placements are non-transferrable; for example, the Primary Author of a Placement may not transfer their status as Primary Author of the Placement to any other User or person.

A Product may only be displayed in association with a Placement if the Product is in a published Product State and is not under Embargo or any other restriction. If a Product that is involved in a Placement is not in a Published State, for example if a User or Leanpub changes the Product’s State to any State incompatible with participation in the Placement, then the Product will be removed from the Placement. Any payment received for the Placement will not be refunded.

Leanpub reserves the right to remove a Product from a Placement at any time at its sole discretion. For example, if Leanpub determines that a Product or Author is in violation of these Terms or any law, Leanpub reserves the right to remove that Product or all of that Author’s Products from any Placement.

4.2.1 Shelf Spots

Shelf Spots may not be transferred to other Users. Each Shelf Spot is dedicated to the Product it is associated with at the time the Shelf Spot is purchased; a Shelf Spot may not be transferred to another Product. Like all Paid Placements, a purchase of a Shelf Spot is not refundable.

4.3 Marketing

Ruboss has sole discretion in determining all marketing and promotions within the Leanpub Site and Services and may, without limitation, market and promote any Content or Product, including Books, Bundles and Packages, by making portions of them available to prospective customers at no charge, or advertising a Product image (such as a Book cover image) in Leanpub advertisements throughout the Site or elsewhere, including for example in tweets on Twitter and in Facebooks posts.

Ruboss reserves the right to promote at no cost to Ruboss any Product or Products for sale on the Site in locations other than the Site, including physical promotions in physical locations, and locations online. This includes, for example, the use of the names and representations of the appearances, avatars or logos of any Author or Organization, in addition to descriptions and representations of the Product or Products being marketed.

Ruboss has no obligation to market or promote any Content or Product, or to continue to market or promote any Product after it has begun doing so.

4.4 Review Copies and Desk Copies

At its sole discretion, Ruboss may distribute up to 100 copies per year of any Product available for sale on Leanpub for free to interested parties. There are three main use cases for this: (1) requests for a “desk copy” or “desk copies” of a Product from an academic or an academic institution, (2) free copies to customers for customer service reasons and (3) giveaways of a few copies of an ebook to meetup groups or user groups for promotional purposes.

5. 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 of this information as set forth in the Privacy Policy.

As part of providing the Services, we may need to communicate to you certain information by email, such as service announcements and administrative messages. These communications are considered part of the Services and your Leanpub Account; therefore, you are not able to choose not to receive them. If you do not wish to receive such communications, you may need to initiate the termination of your Account, which you may do by notifying us via email at hello@leanpub.com.

The Privacy Policy can be found here. Accepting these Terms constitutes acceptance of the Privacy Policy. We may update the Privacy Policy from time to time, without notice. The User is responsible for ensuring they are up to date on the Privacy Policy. We recommend that you check it regularly.

6. Content Pricing Policy

The Leanpub purchasing model allows a User under some circumstances to choose the Purchase Price for a Product within the constraints set by Ruboss, an Author, Co-Author, or any other person with the authority to set the Product’s prices.

A Leanpub User who offers a Product for sale on Leanpub may choose two prices for each Product: a Suggested Price and a Minimum Price (“Variable Pricing”). The Minimum Price must be lower than or equal to the Suggested Price.

When they are purchasing a Product, the User then chooses the purchase price they wish to pay (the “Purchase Price” or “Purchase Prices”), within the constraints of this Variable Pricing model and other constraints set by Ruboss, such as the lowest price which a User may set for Content that is not $0.00 (the “Lowest Permitted Not Free Minimum Price”) and the highest price which may set as the sale price for a Product (the “Maximum Price”).

There are special rules for the sale of Bundles. For Bundles, only one price is set (the “Bundle Price”).

Authors, Co-Authors, Organizations and Universities all have the authority to set the price or prices of a Product. The price or prices may be changed by any Account Holder with the capability to do so at any time and for any reason by a User with the ability to do so within Leanpub.

6.1 Minimum Price Rules

The lowest price a Product may be set to is $0.00, or “Free”.

Currently, the Lowest Permitted Not Free Minimum Prices for Products are as follows:

• For a Book, the price is $7.99.
• For a Bundle, the price is $9.99.
• For a Course, the price is $19.00.
• For a Track (formerly a “Course Set”), the price is $29.00.

Ruboss may raise or lower the Lowest Permitted Not Free Minimum Price for any Product at any time.

If the Lowest Permitted Not Free Minimum Price is changed, all Products where the Product’s non-Free Minimum Price is lower than the new Lowest Permitted Not Free Minimum Price, will automatically have their Minimum Price changed to the new Lowest Permitted Not Free Minimum Price.

For example, if a Book is for sale at a Minimum Price of $4.99, and we raise the Lowest Permitted Not Free Minimum Price to $7.99, the Book will then have a Minimum Price of $7.99.

6.2 Maximum Price Rules

Currently, the Maximum Prices for Products are as follows:

• For a Book, the price is $1,000.00.
• For a Bundle, the price is $3,000.00.
• For a Course, the price is $5,000.00.
• For a Track (formerly a “Course Set”), the price is $9,999.00.

Ruboss may raise or lower the Maximum Price for any Product at any time.

6.3 Purchasing Multiple Copies of a Product

Under some circumstances, Users may purchase multiple copies of a Product (the “Multiple Copy Purchase” or “Multiple Copy Purchases”). A Multiple Copy Purchase may be purchased in two ways:

1) By increasing the price of the Product to be the equivalent to the number of copies being purchased times a price chosen for a single copy of the Product by the User (the “Chosen Price”). The Chosen Price must be equal to or greater than the Minimum Price of the Product, and must be equal to or less than the Maximum Price. The purchaser may then distribute copies of the Product purchased equal to the multiple of the price chosen to purchase the equivalent of a single copy of the Product. Since Leanpub has no Digital Rights Management, these copies can be shared directly by the purchaser.

2) By using the shopping cart feature that permits the User to purchase a number of copies set by the User. In this case, after the purchase is completed, the User will be provided with the ability to distribute a purchase token (the “Purchase Token” or “Purchase Tokens”) for each copy purchased. Purchase Tokens may be sent via the purchaser’s Account to other people (the “Purchase Token Recipient” or “Purchase Token Recipients”) by using an email address for each Purchase Token Recipient. A Purchase Token may only be used once to redeem the purchase of a Product.

6.4 Packages and Extras

Packages and Extras are prohibited for the genre of Erotica. For more information, see Section 9.1.

Adding a Leanpub book as an Extra and selling it in a Package is not permitted. This practice is confusing to customers, who expect to buy a Bundle, if they are buying a number of books as a group on the Leanpub bookstore. If you want to sell a number of Leanpub books in a group on the Leanpub bookstore, you should create a Bundle of Leanpub books. If we discover that a User has violated this policy, we may remove the related Extra or Extras, and/or remove the associated Package or Packages, from sale in the Leanpub bookstore, without any requirement to inform the Primary Author or any User associated with the violation or violations.

6.5 Bundles

Multiple Leanpub Products can be sold as Bundles. Bundles include two or more Products associated with one or more Account Holders. Royalties from the sale of the Bundles are split according to an agreed-upon formula by the Account Holders whose Products are included in the Bundle. Ruboss is not responsible for the any agreement between Users regarding Bundle pricing and royalty splits, or the process by which any agreement is reached or modified, and Ruboss is not liable for any real or perceived discrepancies, losses, or damages associated with the splitting of royalties between Account Holders.

The Bundle Price is equivalent to the Minimum Price set for the Bundle.

Bundles including work in the Erotica genre are subject to further terms and conditions. See Section 9.1 for details.

Any Account Holder with the ability to set the Bundle Price may change the Bundle Price at any time and for any reason.

If the State of one or more of the Products in a Bundle is Unpublished, Deleted, or a Product in a Bundle is otherwise not for sale on Leanpub, then the entire Bundle will be removed for sale from the Leanpub.

6.6 Courses and Tracks

Ruboss is not responsible for any consequence to a User related to the use of a Course or Track. For example, if a User fails a Course or Track due to a mistake on the part of an Author with the ability to edit or create a Course or Track, Ruboss is not responsible for any consequence to the User. This includes, for example, failure to meet an employer’s requirement to successfully complete the Course or Track.

See our Refund Policy, which can be found here, for more information.

6.7 Coupons

Authors may issue links or internet addresses for their Leanpub Products to offer them for sale at a different price from those displayed as the Minimum Price and the Suggested Price (the “Coupon” or “Coupons”). Coupons may be subject to various constraints, including but not limited to Start Dates, End Dates, and Maximum Uses. A Coupon is redeemable only for the Product for which it is created.

Account Holders with the appropriate level of access can create Coupons, for example, to offer a Book or Package for sale at a price lower than the Minimum Price. Coupons have no cash value. Coupons are non-transferable, and may not be sold.

When a coupon is made, a URL is created that any User may visit in order to purchase the Product for the price set by the Coupon. Ruboss is not responsible for the misuse of a Coupon or Coupons, for example, in the case where a User gives a Coupon link to another User to whom the Author did not intend to offer the Coupon.

Finally, Leanpub Customer Support may issue Coupons to readers for free or discounted purchases at our sole judgement, for things such as review copies (especially “desk copies” for instructors), to resolve customer complaints or just to ensure overall customer satisfaction. These Coupons will be created as normal book Coupons that you can see on the Coupon page, and they typically will have a note on them indicating they are Leanpub Customer Support coupons. Our goal is to provide excellent customer service to readers and authors, and that includes not bothering an author about small questions of coupons for individual customer issues. Issues such as these should just be resolved, instead of spawning multiple emails for the author and for Leanpub employees.

6.8 Free Purchases

Unless they have been exempted by Ruboss, Products may only be purchased for free if the User has an active Membership. For more details on Memberships and exempted Products, please see section 3.2 of these Terms.

7. Supported Formats

7.1 Books

The Services may be used to create Content and Products, including but not limited to Books and Courses (the “Leanpub Workflow”). This activity is distinguished, for example, from using Leanpub to upload an ebook file created without the use of the Services.

A User may use the Leanpub Workflow to generate a Book in the PDF or EPUB formats, as well as an HTML version.

Leanpub books may be written using Leanpub-Flavoured Markdown, a custom specification on how to write documents (i.e. books) by using a plain text format, which is a variant of Markdown, and is intended for the creation of books.

As part of the Leanpub Workflow, Users may also create Products, including Books and Courses, using Markua, a unique specification for creating documents and other forms of content using a plain text format.

For a Book to be viewable in the in-browser reader and the Leanpub iOS App or Android App, the Book must be generated in the Leanpub Workflow.

Currently, the LPUB file format is a subset of EPUB. This is subject to change at any time at the sole discretion of Ruboss.

Account Holders with the appropriate access may also upload a PDF and/or an EPUB and/or a MOBI file for sale on the Leanpub Bookstore. The available formats are clearly represented on each Book’s landing page. Users are responsible for ensuring the Book they buy is compatible with their programs and devices.

In general, Leanpub does not guarantee that any file available for purchase on Leanpub will be compatible with any programs, devices, or versions of the Site, Services, or Applications.

Users may utilize the Leanpub 60-day Happiness Guarantee to refund any purchase they have made that is not compatible with their program, device, or version of the Site, Services, or Applications.

7.2 Leanpub iOS App Formats

The Leanpub iOS App supports LPUB files which have been generated via the Leanpub Workflow.

The Leanpub iOS App does not support reading any files which have been uploaded to Leanpub, regardless of the file format. For clarity, this is true regardless of whether the format of a file that is uploaded to Leanpub is a PDF or EPUB file.

7.3 Leanpub Android App Formats

The Leanpub Android App supports LPUB files which have been generated via the Leanpub Workflow.

The Leanpub Android App does not support reading any files which have been uploaded to Leanpub, regardless of the file format. For clarity, this is true regardless of whether the format of a file that is uploaded to Leanpub is a PDF or EPUB file.

7.4 Leanpub Web Viewing Formats

The Leanpub Web Viewer (the “Web Viewer”), which allows Books to be read using desktop and mobile internet browsers, supports LPUB files which have been generated by and published on Leanpub only.

The Web Viewer does not support reading any files which have been uploaded to Leanpub, regardless of the file format. The only way to make a file available for reading in the Web Viewer is to generate and publish it using the Leanpub Workflow. For clarity, this is true regardless of whether the format of the file being uploaded is a PDF or EPUB file.

7.5 Restrictions on Digital Files Uploaded to Leanpub

Leanpub authors can use Leanpub to generate digital files, like ebook files, and they can also upload arbitrary types of digital content as “Extras.” Furthermore, Leanpub authors can also use our Upload feature to upload ebook files to Leanpub. Finally, even in writing modes where Leanpub is generating ebook files, Leanpub authors can override these files by, for example, uploading their own PDF file to replace the one generated by Leanpub.

In all cases, including all of these cases and more, we have very strict rules about the files you may upload to Leanpub.

When you upload digital files to Leanpub, and for as long as they are stored on Leanpub through your action or actions, you must be the copyright owner of the contents of each digital file, or you must be authorized to upload and store the file or files using Leanpub. To be clear, no other service, person, or organization may have any ownership claim on the contents of any such digital file, such as copyright ownership, or distribution rights that would restrict you from uploading and storing the file or files using Leanpub, unless you have their formal consent to upload the associated digital files to Leanpub (for example, a legally binding agreement giving you distribution rights for the content, even if you do not own the copyright).

A User may not upload digital files which violate these Terms of Service. Without excluding any other policy described in these Terms, no digital file uploaded to Leanpub may contain any of the following:

1. Digital Rights Management (DRM) software or any other anti-circumvention or other copy-control system (see section 7.5.1 below).
2. Watermarking of any kind (see section 7.5.2 below).
3. Headers, footers or verso page material promoting other publishing services (see section 7.5.3 below).
4. Viruses or malware.
5. Images other than the cover page, if the ebook is categorized as Erotica. On Leanpub, books categorized as Erotica cannot contain any images in the book content themselves.

We do not automatically inspect digital files uploaded to Leanpub to determine their compliance with these Terms. The successful uploading of a digital file to Leanpub does not represent any commitment on our part that the digital file that has been uploaded to Leanpub is in compliance with these Terms. We reserve the right to remove and delete any uploaded digital file or files, at our sole discretion and at any time, should we determine, at our sole discretion, that the uploading and storing of the file or files using Leanpub may involve a violation of these Terms.

7.5.1 Leanpub Does Not Use Digital Rights Management (DRM) Software

Leanpub does not use Digital Rights Management (DRM) software or any other anti-circumvention or copy-control system of any kind.

We find DRM to be objectionable for a number of reasons. One reason is the same reason that we do not permit watermarking: DRM is a process designed to treat every reader as a potential thief, instead of as a valued customer. We will not facilitate this type of approach, since it is against our values.

7.5.2 Leanpub Does Not Accept the Publication of Watermarked Content

Leanpub Users are not permitted to use Leanpub to publish Content containing a watermark or watermarks, including Books. At our sole discretion, we may choose to Unpublish, Retire, or otherwise remove or delete any Book, or any other Content published on Leanpub, if we discover that it contains any watermarks.

If you publish Content (such as an ebook) on Leanpub that contains watermarks because you were unaware of our restriction on watermarks, this does not mean you are not permitted to publish the Book if you remove the watermarks. In this case, we recommend that you publish a new version of the Book, without the watermarks. If you are not permitted to publish the Content on Leanpub without watermarks, then the Content must not be published on Leanpub because that would involve a violation of these Terms.

We find watermarking to be objectionable for a number of reasons. One reason is that watermarking, like DRM, implies that every reader is a potential thief instead of a valued customer. We will not facilitate this type of approach, since it is against our values.

7.5.3 Leanpub Does Not Accept Headers, Footers or Verso Page Material Promoting Other Publishing Services

Just as we restrict watermarking, we also prohibit headers, footers or verso page material promoting other publishing services. (We also prohibit watermarking which does that, but since we prohibit all watermarking, this is included in that prohibition.)

If we did permit books which marketed competing publishing services in their headers, footer or verso page, then some readers may perceive an implied endorsement, association or partnership between Leanpub and those services, where there in fact is none. So, our simple solution is to prohibit this.

This restriction is not unique to Leanpub. For example, we have heard reports of Amazon KDP informing Leanpub Authors that they are not permitted to sell a Book on Amazon if it contains the Leanpub brand information on the Book’s verso page. So, to support authors who wish to sell their Leanpub books on KDP, we have an “Export Unbranded Ebook” feature in our platform. If you use another platform to produce your ebook which you then wish to sell on Leanpub using our Upload feature, hopefully they are as helpful and free of lock-in to you as we are to our authors.

7.5.4 Leanpub Does Not Accept Sample Books Promoting the Sale of the Complete Book on Other Services

Users are not permitted to use Leanpub to provide customers with a sample Book that points to other services for the acquisition of a complete copy of the Book.

7.6 Distributing Your Leanpub-Generated Content Using Other Services

Leanpub does not restrict you from distributing Content you create yourself and publish on Leanpub, or Content generated using our services (the “Leanpub-Generated Content”), on other services. For example, as far as Leanpub is concerned, you are permitted to publish a Book on Leanpub which has already been sold elsewhere, or that is currently being sold elsewhere, or that you may someday in the future sell elsewhere.

To be clear, as far as Leanpub is concerned, you may publish, distribute or sell a Book on Leanpub that you may simultaneously publish, distribute, or sell on another service, at any price.

Please note that if you are publishing, selling, or distributing Leanpub-Generated Content on another service or services, we do have some restrictions regarding that content, which are set out in section 7.6.1 below.

Please note that other services may have restrictions that restrict you from using Leanpub to publish your Content, or that place pricing restrictions on you, when you simultaneously publish Content on their service, and on other services. It is your responsibility to be in compliance with the rules imposed by any other services you are using.

If you use another service to create and distribute your Content, it is not against our policy for you to also publish your Content on Leanpub, provided you are in compliance with these Terms, including, for the sake of clarity, and not to the exclusion of any other policy set out in these Terms, the following specific points:

1. You must own the copyright to the Content, or formally represent the owner of the copyright.
2. You must have the rights to publish, distribute, or sell the Content using Leanpub, which is available to Users worldwide without restriction.
3. You must not have entered into any agreement, including signing a contract or agreeing to other Terms of Service for another service, which would restrict you from using Leanpub to publish, distribute, or sell the Content using Leanpub.

7.6.1 Restrictions on Exporting Leanpub-Generated Content for Distribution Using Other Services

As set out in the previous section, if you use Leanpub to create Leanpub-Generated Content, it is consistent with these Terms for you to use other services to distribute your Leanpub-Generated Content. However, the following restrictions do apply:

1. You may not use another service to publish, distribute, or sell the ebook files you generate which include the Leanpub-branded verso page (the “Leanpub-Branded Ebook” or “Leanpub-Branded Ebooks”). You are only permitted to use other services to publish, distribute, or sell the unbranded ebook files generated using our “Export Unbranded Ebook” process (the “Unbranded Ebook” or “Unbranded Ebooks”).

There are a number of reasons for this restriction. One reason is that we do not want to confuse customers who acquire a copy of copy of your Book or Books on another service, and expect Leanpub to provide them with customer support. With print books, this is not a big concern for us (since we do not sell print books), but with Ebooks, it is a valid concern for us. So, only Leanpub can sell Leanpub-Branded Ebooks.

1. You are permitted to sell print books based on the print-ready PDF exports that Leanpub generates (the “Print-Ready PDF” or “Print-Ready PDFs”), or other print-targeted Leanpub-Generated Content we produce, such as the InDesign exports. The print-ready PDF exports that Leanpub generates may have Leanpub branding in them. (This is currently an option which authors may choose to include or exclude. You are permitted to sell print books based on the Print-Ready PDFs, including or excluding the Leanpub branding. We are currently not concerned about customers asking for support from Leanpub on the print books, since we do not sell print books and since we appreciate the marketing.

8. Copyright, Creative Commons, Public Domain, Disputed Content, and Related Policies

To ensure that Leanpub remains focused on its mission, and does not degenerate into a sideshow, we have a number of harsh-sounding policies.

VIOLATING ANY OF THE POLICIES IN THIS SECTION WILL RESULT IN ACCOUNT SUSPENSION OR DELETION (INCLUDING ALL OF THE ACCOUNT HOLDER’S PRODUCTS) AT OUR SOLE DISCRETION, WITHOUT ANY NOTICE REQUIRED.

8.1 Copyright Holders Only

Only the holder of the associated copyright for any Content may use Leanpub to publish that Content.

This restriction is not limited to the contents of a Product; it applies to any Content, including, for example, a User’s profile or a Product’s “About” section.

8.2 Standard Copyright License

Leanpub Authors and/or Organizations and/or Universities own the copyright to their work. Leanpub does not own the copyright to Products or any other Content created and/or sold on Leanpub. By default, Leanpub books are published under a standard copyright license, belonging to the Author or Authors and/or Organization or Organizations and/or University or Universities.

8.3 Creative Commons Policy

Leanpub also provides an easy mechanism for Users to choose to publish their copyrighted works under one of a number of Creative Commons Licenses as an alternative to the standard copyright license.

However, you are ONLY allowed to publish a Creative Commons Product on Leanpub if YOU are the copyright owner(s) for that Product. You cannot publish Creative Commons Products that you do not own the copyright to, even if the Creative Commons license permits it elsewhere.

Ironically, one reason we are doing this is actually to support the Creative Commons process for in-progress Products. If there is an explosion of identical or similar copies of in-progress or completed Creative Commons works on Leanpub, it potentially harms the ability of the original author(s) to both profit from their work and to get feedback, as the question of which is the canonical work is made more obscure.

8.4 Public Domain Book Publishing Policy

Leanpub only allows the sale of Public Domain Products that are significantly differentiated from the original, or other versions of the Public Domain Product. For a Product to be considered significantly differentiated it must, for example, either be a unique translation of an original book, include relevant unique illustrations to which, for example, the Author or Organization owns the copyright, or contain annotations. Annotations must be unique contributions made by the User or Users wishing to sell the Product on Leanpub. Unique contributions include, but are not limited to, essay introductions, study guides, or literary or historical critiques. All annotations must be the original work of the User wishing to sell the Book on Leanpub.

Leanpub reserves the right to refuse any Public Domain content that it does not deem to include significantly differentiated content.

Public Domain Products must include an indication in the Product title to that effect, such as “Translated”, “Annotated” or “Illustrated”.

8.5 Copyright Infringement is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN

If we determine that ANY of the content in a Product does or may infringe upon the copyright of others, we will remedy this by stopping the sale of the Product and possibly deleting the offending Book or Package. We may also suspend or delete any Leanpub account, including all Products associated with it, if, at Ruboss’s sole discretion, we feel that the perceived offence warrants it.

Ruboss also reserves the right to withhold revenue and to refund all refundable purchases of all of a User’s products if Ruboss, at its sole discretion, determines there to have been a violation of these Terms associated with the User’s account.

8.6 Account Holders Authorize Ruboss to Send DMCA Takedown Notices on Your Behalf

Leanpub Account Holders hereby appoint Ruboss as a DMCA copyright representative, and authorize us to send DMCA Takedown notices on their behalf, for as long as their Product is available for sale on the Leanpub Bookstore. This does not constitute a promise, commitment or requirement to send DMCA Takedown notices under any circumstances. Ruboss reserves the option to do so with the intention of addressing particularly egregious violations of copyright.

8.7 Notification of Copyright Infringement, Counter-Notification, and Disputed Content

Ruboss is located in Canada and complies with Canadian regulations. On the matter of copyright, Canada has a “Notice and Notice” regime, under which we are obliged to forward a compliant notification of copyright infringement (a “Notification of Infringement”) to any party alleged in the Notification of Infringement to have added Content to Leanpub that violates the claimant’s copyright or intellectual property rights.

8.7.1 Submitting a Notification of Infringement

By law, a compliant Notification of Infringement sent to Ruboss (by mail or email) must include the following (the “Positive Information”):

• The name of and address of the claimant
• A detailed specification of the infringement
• Details concerning the timing of the infringement; for example, the date on which the alleged infringement was discovered, and/or an indication that the alleged infringement is current, at the date and time of notification
• Identify the material that is subject to the claimant’s copyright and is allegedly infringed, and a statement of the claimant’s rights or interests in relation to the related Content
• Identify the Internet address associated with the related content; for example, a Leanpub Book’s URL

A legally compliant Notification of Infringement must not include the following (the “Negative Information”):

• Any offer to settle the claim of infringement
• Any request, demand, or offer regarding payment, or the release of personal information, in relation to the claim of infringement
• Any reference, such as a hyperlink, to such a request, demand, or offer not included in the Notification of Infringement
• Any other information that is proscribed by regulation

To help establish the credibility of the claim, we may also ask for other information, such as an electronic signature.

Upon receipt of a legally compliant Notification of Infringement, Ruboss is not required to take any other action, besides the requirement to forward the Notification of Infringement to the User or Users alleged to have violated the claimant’s copyright or intellectual property rights. In this circumstance, we may choose to remove the associated Product or Products from sale on the Leanpub bookstore, and we may choose to revoke Users’ access to any associated Product or Products (such as revoking the Author or Authors’ access to the Product on Leanpub, including placing the associated Product or Products in the “Forcibly Retired” Product State), or take any other action we deem appropriate, at our sole discretion, without any requirement to inform any associated Users of our action or actions. We may also choose to do nothing, at our sole discretion.

8.7.2 Submitting a Counter-Notification to Ruboss

Upon receipt of a Notification of Infringement from Ruboss, a User may dispute the Notification of Infringement by sending to Ruboss (by mail or mail) a counter-notification (the “Counter-Notification”).

The Counter-Notification process set out in these Terms is defined by Ruboss for the purpose of protecting Users from ostensibly frivolous claims of infringement, and to give Users a formal, transparently defined opportunity to establish their seriousness regarding the matter. This Counter-Notification process is not required or defined by Canadian regulation. This process does not subject Ruboss to any legal obligations in addition to those specifically required by regulation. We have established this process for the purposes of transparency and signalling how seriously we take issues concerning copyright.

A Counter-Notification sent to Ruboss must contain the following:

• The name of and address of the claimant
• Identification of the Internet address associated with the related content; for example, a Leanpub Book’s URL
• Identification of the material set out in the Notification of Infringement, and a declaration of the User’s rights or interests in relation to the related Content

To help establish the credibility of the Counter-Notification, we may also ask for other information, such as an electronic signature.

Unless we are ordered to do so through a legal process, the contents of the Counter-Notification will not be shared with the claimant.

At its sole discretion, Ruboss may respond to the Counter-Notification by carrying out an action or actions it deems appropriate. For example, if we set a User’s Book to be Forcibly Retired after receiving a compliant Notification of Infringement, upon receipt of a Counter-Notification from an affected User, we may choose to return the Book to the State it was in when we changed its State to the Forcibly Retired state.

At any point in the process, we may also choose to classify the associated Content as Disputed Content (see the “Disputed Content” section of these Terms.) We may also choose to do nothing. Receipt of a Counter-Notification does not bind Ruboss to any response; in particular, it does not bind us to setting a Product to a State of Published, in which it can be sold on the Site.

8.7.3 Disputed Content

It is not Ruboss’s responsibility to mediate copyright disputes, nor should it be. That is a matter for people to work out either between themselves, or in court. If we become aware that any Content is or may be related to some disagreement or other conflict regarding ownership of copyright or intellectual property rights (i.e. that it is or may be “Disputed Content”), we may choose to respond, at our sole discretion, to limit our exposure to the Disputed Content.

For example, we may set any Product associated with the Disputed Content to the Forcibly Retired state. We may also restrict the access to Leanpub for any Users associated with the Disputed Content, and we reserve the right to delete any other Content created by those Users. We may also delete the Users’ Leanpub Accounts entirely. To be clear, we may terminate any User’s access to Leanpub at any time and without notification to the affected Users, upon determination, at our sole discretion, that the User is associated with Disputed Content.

Our response may also include withholding any royalties associated with the Disputed Content, and to refund all refundable purchases of the Content. We may also remove the Disputed Content from Users’ Leanpub libraries, at our sole discretion.

Matters related to Disputed Content are often unresolvable from the perspective of Ruboss. Our decision to classify Content as Disputed Content is in no way a declaration or judgment regarding the ownership of the Disputed Content nor a declaration or judgment regarding any User’s participation in infringing activity. Instead, it is a means of limiting Ruboss’s exposure to matters of apparently genuine dispute, or those where the truth is, from our perspective, indeterminate.

For this reason, unless Ruboss decides otherwise at its sole discretion, once a URL has become associated with Disputed Content, it is no longer available for use to sell any content on Leanpub. This includes new content not associated with the Disputed Content, and even content created by other Users.

8.8 Non-Author Copyright Owners

It is permissible for copyright owners who are not the Author or Authors of any Content to publish and sell that Content on Leanpub. This includes, for example, an organization that owns the copyright to the Content, or someone who has inherited copyright ownership from a deceased person.

8.8.1 iStock Images and Images from Similar License-Granting Service Are Not Permitted

Services like iStock will grant users licenses to use images they provide. We do not permit the use of images of this kind, in part because we do not want to engage in a confirmation process regarding the actual existence or terms of the license.

8.8.2 Death of Copyright Holder

If the copyright owner of Content dies, the person to whom the copyright is passed becomes the Owner of any associated Content published on Leanpub. The new owner of the Content takes on the rights of the Primary Author and may leave the Content up for sale on Leanpub, retire the Content, or take any other action permitted to a Primary Author. To be clear, upon the death of a copyright owner for any Content, we do not “lock” the Account or unpublish any associated Product or Products.

9. Content Policy

All Content, whether publicly posted in Forums, published in Books, Bundles, Extras and/or Packages or Course sold on Leanpub, or privately transmitted between Users of Leanpub, is the sole responsibility of the person or persons who originated such content.

Leanpub may not monitor or control any or all of the Content posted via the Services and takes no responsibility for any such Content. Any use or reliance of any Content or materials posted via the Services, or obtained though the Services, is done at the User’s own risk.

We do not endorse, support, represent or guarantee the completeness, truthfulness, accuracy, or reliability of any Content or Product or communication posted or sold via the Services. Nor do we 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 mislabeled 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, and by using the Services, you represent and warrant that the Content:

• Is owned by you or, to the extent that it is owned by someone else, that you have permission from the owner to provide the Content to Leanpub for use as described above and, in either case, that the Content does not contain any personally identifiable information about any individual (“Personal Information”) other than yourself;
• Does not violate any copyright, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property right of any third party;
• Does not invade any person’s right of privacy or publicity;
• Does not include any false attribution, such as a fabricated testimonial from a celebrity, or any other person or organization;
• Does not contain material that is unlawful, obscene, defamatory, extremely pornographic, hate speech, harassing, threatening, harmful, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, abusive, inflammatory, or otherwise objectionable;
• Does not include malicious code, which includes, without limitation, viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancelbots, or any other computer programming routines that may damage, interfere with, surreptitiously intercept, or expropriate any system, program, data, or personal information (including but not limited to Personal Information);
• Does not break the law, encourage or facilitate the breaking of the law, or violate any applicable regulation, rule or policy, of any applicable jurisdiction;
• Does not offer to disseminate fraudulent goods, services, schemes, or promotions; and
• To the best of your knowledge, all factual information in the Content you upload is true and accurate, and the use of any recipe, formula, or instruction in the Content will not result in personal injury to any person.

The person who creates and/or uploads the Content, or to whom control of the Content is transferred in the case that the identity of the Account Holder is transferred from one person to another, is entirely responsible for the Content. 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 damage to, corruption or destruction of the Content. In addition, Ruboss is not responsible for backing up or archiving the Content.

While Leanpub does offer a Versions feature that is meant to provide Authors with a means to record changes to their work as they write, Authors should not rely on this feature as a backup. Ruboss reserves the right to discontinue this feature, or any other feature, at any time. 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:

• Not to post any Content that would violate these Terms;
• Not use the Services to harm anyone, including but not limited to Minors, in any way;
• Not to use “spam,” “blast-faxes,” or recorded telephone messages to market or sell Content or any other product or service;
• Not to interfere with the operation of the Site via the use of viruses, programs or technology designed to disrupt or damage software or hardware;
• Not to employ a robot, spider or other process or device to harvest e-mail addresses or other user information or to monitor the activity on the Site;
• Not to impersonate another person or entity or forge any e-mail communication or message; and
• Not to use Leanpub to sell physical goods. This includes, but is not limited to, offering codes or coupons to customers that they may redeem for physical goods. To be clear, you may only use Leanpub to sell digital goods.

As an Author and/or Organization owner of any Content that you contribute to and sell or promote via the Site, you agree that any Content made available for sale through the Site will only be provided to Users pursuant to the agreement contained in Section 10 (“Rights to Content Posted on the Site”).

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.

Ruboss, at its sole discretion, reserves the right to refuse publication on the Site of any Content or to remove any and all Content that Ruboss determines to be inappropriate, illegal, offensive, potentially or actually harmful in any respect, that negatively affects Site operations or the Leanpub brand, or that misrepresents the nature of the Content, its current state of completeness, its plan for development.

Ruboss reserves the right to remove any Content or Product and suspend or delete any account that has apparently been abandoned in an incomplete state. This includes the right to appropriate a URL that a User has associated with a Product. For example, if you create a book and assign it a generic URL such as leanpub.com/computers, and you do not publish a Product, we may appropriate the URL and assign you a new one. This is to prevent Users from “squatting” on potentially valuable URLs.

At our discretion, we may remove Content and/or ban Users deemed to be suspicious and Users we deem to have violated or probably violated our policies with respect to the Site or Services. We reserve the right to amend our policies from time to time at our sole discretion, without notice.^

If you believe any materials in the Site infringe your copyright, you should notify Ruboss of your copyright infringement claim and at our discretion 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 here. Accepting these Terms constitutes acceptance of the Copyright Take Down Policy.

9.1 Erotica

There are additional rules and features for certain types of Content. In particular, special rules and restrictions apply to books categorized as Erotica.

9.1.1 Identification and Age Verification

Books containing mature or erotic materials must be categorized as Erotica. Books categorized as Erotica will appear in their own Category lists and will not appear in the main Leanpub bestseller lists, or first published list. The Erotica Category will be kept behind an age verification form, in order to prevent access to Minors.

9.1.2 Packages Including Erotica

Packages including Erotic materials are prohibited. Authors may not add Extras to Books in the Erotica genre. This includes, but is not limited to, a prohibition on video, audio, artwork, or other digital Extras. Any Packages that include Extras deemed to include Erotica or Content that is in any way inappropriate will be removed at Ruboss’ sole discretion, and further actions may be taken in accordance with Sections 8 and 13 of this Terms of Service. While Leanpub does not prohibit of the creation and distribution of fiction which is categorized as Erotica, Packages and Extras are prohibited in order to lessen the potential for other legal issues associated with Extras and Packages in these genres.

9.1.3 Bundles Including Erotica

If any Product in a Bundle is categorized as Erotica, the entire Bundle will be categorized as Erotica. Non-Erotica books that are included in Erotica Bundles will only be subject to restrictions and Age Verifications in association with the Bundle; this will not impact the non-Erotica Book on a stand-alone basis. Bundles that include Products from the Erotica genre will only appear in the Erotica categories, and will be subject to Age Verification.

9.1.4 Images

Books categorized as Erotica cannot contain any images in the book manuscripts themselves. Our book generator will ignore any image tags in the body of an Erotica manuscript. (This is to ensure that none of the images are copyrighted and not eligible for publication or are pornographic in nature.) If Authors or Organizations attempt to include images in the manuscript, the image will automatically be removed from the book being generated. The only image allowed in a book categorized as Erotica is the cover image (the “Book Cover”). As with all Leanpub Books, Erotica Authors and/or Organization owners must own the copyright to the image used as the Book Cover, and this image must be PG13, and must not be mature or erotic in nature.

In order to prevent Authors and Organizations from including images in books they upload directly, books in the Categories of Erotica will only be accepted if they are generated via the Leanpub book generator.

Ruboss reserves the right, but is not required to, remove any Content that violates these terms, and may take further action at its sole discretion.

9.1.5 Prohibited Content

While Leanpub supports free speech and artistic expression, it in no way condones pornographic photographs or movies, hard-core material that depicts graphic sexual acts, or any erotic material about, or including, Minors in any way. Leanpub is strongly against child pornography and STRICTLY PROHIBITS any erotic stories that include characters who are Minors.

Other offensive materials, including but not limited to, crime scene pictures or videos, pictures or videos depicting animal cruelty, or other disturbing materials are not to be uploaded or made available via the Site or Services, sold, or given away using the Site or Services.

Furthermore, as discussed in section 9.1.2 above, Fan Fiction is prohibited on Leanpub, due to copyright ambiguity.

Ruboss reserves the right, but is not required to, remove any content deemed inappropriate and take any further actions it deems appropriate against the Author(s) or Organization owner(s) of the relevant Content. Ruboss understands that what may be acceptable in one country or society may not be in another, and it implores its Users to consider the global community when publishing Content. However, Ruboss reserves the right to determine what Content is appropriate to be sold on the Leanpub Site.

9.2 Fan Fiction is Prohibited

“Fan Fiction” is defined as fiction featuring characters or other recognizable content from a particular TV series, movie, book, or other media created by a person or persons other than the Author(s) of the Content.

Fan Fiction books, bundles, courses and tracks are prohibited on Leanpub.

The reason for this is that there is a grey area around copyright and Fan Fiction: since Fan Fiction can be considered a derivative work, it is not clear whether Ruboss has the right to publish and sell a particular work of Fan Fiction, even for a free minimum price.

9.3 Bad Products and Joke Products

9.3.1 Bad Products

Excluding Users who have been blocked by Ruboss, or who are prevented from doing so by some other circumstance (such as their country’s government blocking access to Leanpub), in general, anyone can sign up to Leanpub at any time, and set up a landing page for a Product, a User page for their Account, and/or publish a Product at any time, or use Leanpub in some other way. This means that Leanpub is vulnerable to people doing bad things, including publishing a Product or Products with little or no original content, or even abusing Leanpub to publish a Product or Products that may potentially be harmful to the interests of Leanpub and its Users (a “Bad Product” or “Bad Products”).

If Ruboss, at its sole discretion, determines a Product to be a Bad Product, it will undertake whatever action Ruboss deems necessary to resolve the situation. This may involve the use of automated processes. Ruboss is not required to give advance warning, or provide any notification of, or explanation for, any such action.

For example (but without limitation), Ruboss may delete a Bad Product, or change a Bad Product’s Product State to any other Product State, such as changing the Product State from Published to Unpublished.

In addition, Ruboss may take action with regard to any User that Ruboss deems to be associated with a Bad Product. For example, if a User publishes a Bad Product, or creates a landing page or User page that is Ruboss deems, at its sole discretion, to be unacceptable, Ruboss may suspend the User’s access to their Account, or delete their Account.

9.3.2 Jokes and Joke Products

On occasion, a User may create a Product or User page, or undertake some other activity on Leanpub, that is intended as a joke (a “Joke” or “Joke Product”). If Ruboss, at its sole discretion, determines that an act is a Joke or a Product is a Joke Product, it reserves the right to take action to prevent the Joke or Joke Product from having a negative effect on Leanpub and/or Users. For example, Ruboss may unpublish or forcibly retire such a Product, or force such a Product to be for sale only for free, with no option for a User or Users to pay for the Product. Ruboss is not required to inform any User or Users of such an action.

9.4 SEO, Advertising, and Related Activity is Prohibited

Leanpub is a platform used to create, publish, and promote Leanpub Products, and to promote Leanpub Authors. It is also a platform where people can discover Leanpub Authors and Products, and where they can buy and consume those Leanpub Products.

It is not permitted to use Leanpub for any other primary purpose, including, without limitation, advertising a business or a non-Leanpub product, or for SEO, or for any similar purpose (collectively, the “Banned Promotional Activity”).

If we determine, at our sole discretion, that a User may be engaged in Banned Promotional Activity, without any obligation to notify the User, we may suspend their account.

9.4.1 Promotion of Specific Cryptocurrencies is Prohibited

While we welcome the publication of Products that discuss the subject of cryptocurrencies in general, it is not permitted to use Leanpub as a platform for promoting the use of any specific cryptocurrency. We would consider this to be a form of advertising, even if the Author or Authors of the product are not being directly compensated in any way for their work on the related Product or Products.

This restriction is not limited to the contents of a Product; it applies to any Content, including, for example, a User’s profile or a Product’s “About” section.

9.5 Malware Development, Website Audits, and Security Vulnerability Disclosures are Prohibited

While we welcome the publication of Products that discuss the subject of computer security in general, it is not permitted to use Leanpub as a platform for disclosing any specific vulnerability in a given website, or for covering the topic of malware development.

(Such disclosures should be made privately to the appropriate parties, not published on Leanpub.)

This restriction is not limited to the contents of a Product; it applies to any Content, including, for example, a User’s profile or a Product’s “About” section.

This restriction is not limited to a published Product; it applies to a Product in any state, including unpublished or stealth mode Products.

Any activity deemed by Ruboss, at its sole discretion, to be in violation of this restriction, may result in a Product being removed from the Site, and potentially to Account suspension, without notification to you.

If you are concerned that your Content may violate these Terms, before publishing on Leanpub or creating a Leanpub Product, please contact us at hello@leanpub.com for guidance.

10. Rights to Content Posted on the Site

10.1 Ruboss Property

Ruboss is the owner of all intellectual property rights, including but not limited to all copyrights, patents, and trademarks, associated with Leanpub, the Site and the Services, with all rights reserved. This is 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 to 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, trademarks, 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 rights, 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.

It is not permitted to use the Leanpub logo on the cover or landing page image of any Leanpub Product, in part because we do not want to imply endorsement of any Product.

10.2 Unsolicited Idea Submission Policy

While Leanpub loves feedback from Authors, Organizations and other Users on how to improve the Site and Services, it will not compensate those who submit solicited or unsolicited ideas to Leanpub or Ruboss. To prevent any confusion or misunderstanding when new ideas are implemented onto the Site or Services, any submissions of ideas, including but not limited to ideas for advertisements, promotions, or ways to improve the user experience of Leanpub will become the property of Ruboss. While Ruboss reserves the right to use any materials or ideas submitted, it is not obliged to do so.

Payment for ideas or submissions to Ruboss will only be made if a private agreement was made between the parties in advance of the idea submission.

Any feedback can be forwarded to hello@leanpub.com.

10.3 License Grant to Leanpub

You retain your rights to any Content you submit, post or display on or through the Site or Services. However, by submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through the site or Services you grant us certain rights. These rights differ based on the type of Content. For Content contained in a Product 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 Product is sold or given away on Leanpub. For all other types of Content you post on Leanpub, such as comments posted on 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 Site and Services, and any works derived from the Licensee’s Work in all media, in perpetuity, worldwide.

10.4 Permissions Agreement (“Permissions Agreement”) for Content Posted in the Forums

Posting on the Forums automatically invokes the following Permission Agreement:

The User making the Forum post (the “Licensor”) and the Author or Authors, and/or Organization or Organizations, and/or University or Universities associated with a Product or Products (the “Licensee”) hereby enter into this Permissions Agreement regarding the use of selected materials from the Licensor’s Product or Products, if any (the “Licensor’s Work”):

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’s successors, assigns, and sublicenses, 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.

10.5 Licence Grant to a Purchaser of Products

Since Leanpub Products, including ebooks, are typically PDFs or some other digital format, they are intangibles and you can’t own your own copy in the same way you can own a paper book. The rights you receive in and to a Leanpub Product and its content come directly from the Product’s Author or Authors, and/or Organization or Organizations, and/or University or Universities. For example, the ebook copy itself is provided to you in the form of a license only. All of the content of the Book is subject to copyright and other laws just like any print book. Without restricting the application of the Author’s and/or Organization’s rights available under copyright or other intellectual property or other property laws, or available at common law, the copyright owner(s) of each Product you purchase via Leanpub grants you, subject to your compliance with these Terms, the following license:

• You may download and save the Product onto any device that supports the format of the Product for your personal, non-commercial use;
• You may transfer the Product from device to device;
• You may not store any copies of the Product on publicly accessible servers, including FTP or HTTP servers (“web servers”);
• Your license to the Product is not transferable;
• You may NOT sell the Product and transfer the Rights associated with the Product;
• Furthermore, if this non-transferability clause is forbidden by the local or national laws of the jurisdiction in which you are located, you may not purchase a licence from Leanpub;
• You may make a reasonable number of archival copies of your Product; and
• If you made a “Multiple Copy Purchase” you may distribute the additional copies purchased to the intended recipients, who are then deemed to be bound by the Leanpub Terms and Privacy Policy.

Otherwise, your use and enjoyment of the content of your Product will be as permitted by applicable law, including but not limited to copyright law. Your rights to the Product as set out in these Terms shall remain in force for so long as you comply with these Terms and for so long as your retain a copy of your Product.

We take copyright issues extremely seriously. Since some of us are authors ourselves, we know how it feels to have Content 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 of a real person and you are violating the legal rights of the copyright holder. (This is especially true of Leanpub books, where most of the revenue usually goes directly to the authors).

Leanpub Products are made available to Users via clickable download links (the “Download Link” or “Download Links”) or accessible URLs that give the User the ability to download or view the associated digital file. Download Links are made available to Users in various ways, including in an email or emails sent to the email address associated with the related Product purchase, and in the User’s Leanpub Account. Ruboss is not responsible for any unauthorized sharing or display of the Download Links, and there are no special protections applied to Download Links.

10.6 Special Terms for Organizational Purchasers of Products

If you are purchasing a Product on behalf of an organization through which you intend to make the Product available to multiple readers:

• Your organization and each individual who is given access to, or a copy of, the Product, are subject to the same terms and conditions as individual purchasers of Leanpub Products; and
• You should buy a copy of the Product for the maximum number of team members you expect to be using the Product at any given time.

10.7 Special Terms for Library Purchasers of Ebooks

Since Leanpub’s focus is on the writing, publishing and selling of in-progress Books and Packages, library purchases represent a potential problem for Leanpub Authors and Organizations. Furthermore, both libraries and authors often have their own opinions about how Product sales to libraries should work.

As such, if you wish to purchase a Product on behalf of a library, you must contact the User or Users to whom the Product belongs directly, in order to arrange the purchase. Since Authors and Organizations own their copyright, this can be arranged separately from Leanpub.

10.8 Organizational Reselling is Not Permitted

Organizations and their representatives or associates are not permitted to buy a Product or Products and re-sell that Product or those Products to their clients. For example, if a bookstore receives an order for a Leanpub book from one of their customers, they are not permitted to buy that book on Leanpub and sell it to their customer. For information about our Partner Program, please see section 20 of these Terms.

11. Payment Terms

11.1 Payments to Leanpub for Content and Services

In order to purchase Content, Services, Products or tools on or through the Site or Services, a User must be able to pay using at least one of the third-party payment services we use for purchases (the “Purchase Payment Service” or “Purchase Payment Services”).

Ruboss uses Purchase Payment Services for all purchases, and Users who buy or sell Products or other materials using the Leanpub Site or Service are subject to the terms of service for each Purchase Payment Service they use.

Currently, we use two Purchase Payment Services: PayPal and Stripe.

For PayPal’s terms of service, please visit the PayPal website.

For Stripe’s terms of service, please visit the Stripe website.

Ruboss is not liable for any issues associated with any Purchase Payment Services, including, but not limited to, a Purchase Payment Service’s regional limitations (for example, not offering their services to customers in a particular country), or any change in those limitations.

Since Ruboss uses Purchase Payment Services for all payments, Users residing in jurisdictions that are not supported by a Purchase Payment Service will be unable to use that service to pay for Content for sale by Leanpub.

If a User has an account with a Purchase Payment Service, it is the User’s sole responsibility to ensure their Purchase Payment Service account is accurate and up to date, in order to complete purchases or do anything else involving the Purchase Payment Service, including, for example, receiving a refund.

If you are having trouble completing a purchase or receiving a refund, for example if you are being blocked from completing a transaction by a Purchase Payment Service, you will need to contact their customer support for assistance.

11.2 Payments from Leanpub for Author Royalties and Allocated Membership Pool Revenue

In order to receive payment for royalties earned through their use of the Site or Services, a User must be able to receive payment using at least one of the third-party payment services we use for royalty payments (the “Royalty Payment Service” or “Royalty Payment Services”).

Currently, we use two Royalty Payment Services: PayPal and Wise.

For PayPal’s terms of service, please visit the PayPal website.

For Wise’s terms of service, please visit the Wise website.

By default, royalties will be paid monthly via Wise, but Users may opt in to receive payments via PayPal.

It is your responsibility to ensure that the information you have provided to the Royalty Payment Service is correct and up to date. We are not liable for losses or any other issues related to the information you have provided to the Royalty Payment Service (for example, if you have provided us with the wrong PayPal email address, or if you have provided Wise with the wrong bank account information).

If you would like to arrange for payment via wire transfer, there are special conditions regarding wire transfer royalty payments, which we may consider on a case-by-case basis, particularly if large amounts of money are potentially involved. Please see section 11.6 “Optional Royalty Payment via Wire Transfer Arrangement” below for the details. We are under no obligation to arrange to make royalty payments to you via wire transfer, should you request that we do so.

Besides the methods for making royalty payments set out in these Terms, we do not use any other means or services to pay royalties.

If this section of these Terms seems complicated, please note that in the Royalties section of your Account, you can find a summary of royalties payable in the coming months and other information.

11.2.1 Royalty Payments via PayPal

If no separate PayPal email account has been added to a User’s Account information on Leanpub, then Leanpub will attempt to send a payment via PayPal to the Leanpub User email address associated with the Leanpub Account.

All PayPal payments are made in US Dollars.

Leanpub will attempt to automatically pay the PayPal transaction fees for royalty payments made via PayPal. However, in some cases, this option may not be available. In such cases, the author must pay the transaction fee for the royalty payment. Unfortunately, we are unable to guarantee in advance that Leanpub will be able to automatically pay the PayPal transaction fee.

You are responsible for paying any other charges, such as service fees or currency exchange fees, that may also be added by PayPal, or by any financial institution associated with the transaction (for example, your bank). To be clear, as the recipient of the payment, you are responsible for paying any such fees.

Royalties which are paid by PayPal are paid in one of two ways:

1. Mass Payment: This is a bulk payment process which lets Leanpub pay multiple Users at once. The payout range of $20 to $1,000.00 applies to Mass Payment only.
2. Individual Payment: This is an individual payment process for Users who have special circumstances with their PayPal account and cannot be paid via the mass payment process. For an Individual Payment, the minimum monthly payout is at least $40.

11.2.2 Royalty Payments via Wise

You are responsible for paying any charges, such as service fees or currency exchange fees, that may be added by Wise, or by any financial institution associated with the transaction (for example, your bank). To be clear, as the recipient of the payment, you are responsible for paying any such fees.

11.2.3 Minimum Royalty Payout Amount

The minimum amount for a royalty payment that Ruboss will make (the “Minimum Royalty Payout Amount”) is $20.00 for royalty payments via PayPal, and $100.00 for royalty payments via Wise.

The Minimum Royalty Payout Amount for any applicable Royalty Payment Service may be changed at any time, without any notification to you.

As long as it is higher than the Minimum Royalty Payout Amount, you may also set your own minimum payout amount, for the amount that Leanpub will pay in your next royalty payment (the “User-Set Minimum Monthly Payout Amount”).

At the time a royalty payment is scheduled to take place, if Ruboss owes a User less than the User-Set Minimum Monthly Payout Amount in royalties for purchases whose Royalty Hold Period has elapsed, it will roll the royalty amount forward to the following month, until an amount equalling or exceeding the User-Set Minimum Monthly Payout Amount is reached.

Reader Membership Revenue Pool revenue is paid separately from normal royalty payments. The process of paying Reader Membership Revenue Pool revenue is currently a manual process, so the Minimum Reader Membership Revenue Pool Revenue Amount that must be earned before it is paid out is $100.00, for both PayPal and Wise. However, if a User has a higher User-Set Minimum Monthly Payout Amount, this value will be used as the minimum threshold instead.

11.2.4 Royalty Payments to Co-Authors

Where multiple Users receive royalties from a single Product, Leanpub will make separate payments to each User, based on the percentages specified in the administrative interface by the Primary Author (the “Royalty Structure”), or as set by Leanpub at the Primary Author’s request.

Any changes made to the Royalty Structure are not retroactive. All changes made to the Royalty Structure will take effect when the change is made.

11.2.5 Royalty Hold Period

All Leanpub Products have a 60-day refund policy (see Section 12, Refunds). Note that special rules may apply to specific products given their unique nature, such as Courses.

Since every Leanpub Product purchase (which does not include the purchase of an advertisement or advertisements) can be refunded in the first 60 days after the purchase is made, we hold the royalties owing from a purchase for a period of time (the “Royalty Hold Period”) before making the royalties from that purchase part of the next royalty payment attempt to the User.

The Royalty Hold Period is equal to the number of days after each Paid Purchase during which the associated Royalties owed to the User are held by Leanpub and not released for payment to the User. The primary purposes for the Royalty Hold Period are to allow for the recalculation of Royalties owed due to refunds and fraud. The Royalty Hold Period is at least 60 days by default to match the length of our refunds policy.

Royalties that have been allocated to a User will be subtracted if the purchase upon which the royalty allocation was based is later subject to a refund.

Ruboss reserves the right, at its discretion, to shorten the Royalty Hold Period to fewer than 60 days for any Product or User. Shortening the Royalty Hold Period does not constitute a waiver, and Ruboss reserves the right to change the Royalty Hold Period back to the standard at any time without notice.

Every month, we pay royalties on the outstanding purchases whose Royalty Hold Period has elapsed. We typically pay these royalties in the first few business days of the month. Our intention is that royalties will be paid no later than 25 days following the end of the calendar month, after the Royalty Hold Period of 60 days for a purchase has elapsed.

11.2.6 Royalty Rates

The Royalty Rate applied at the time of the sale of a Product will be determined according to the Membership associated with the Product.

By default, the Royalty Rate for all purchases is 80%.

If a User’s Account is inactive or is terminated and Ruboss is unable to contact a User by using the contact information provided in the User’s Account, it may also, at its discretion, charge a termination fee equal to the amount of the User’s unpaid royalties to cover administrative costs.

11.2.7 Reader Membership Revenue Pool Allocation

50% of the revenue Ruboss receives from Reader Membership payments will be added to a collective pool of revenue to be shared with eligible Leanpub Users (the “Reader Membership Revenue Pool”), specifically the owners of Products, such as Books, Bundles, Courses, or Tracks, that are not excluded from the Reader Membership Revenue Pool (see section 3.2.3.1 of these Terms).

For monthly and annual Reader Memberships, Revenue from the Reader Membership Revenue Pool will be allocated on the basis of the eligible Free purchases that the User makes during a 365 day period (the “Reader Membership Allocation Period”), starting on the day of their first Reader Membership Payment. This includes both monthly and annual Reader Membership payments.

If the term of a Reader Membership is extended as part of a promotion, the Reader Membership Allocation Period for the Reader Membership payment will be extended in an equivalent manner. For example, as part of a promotion, we may offer Reader Memberships that last for 15 months. In that case, the Reader Membership Allocation Period for the Reader Membership payment will also be 15 months.

For Lifetime Reader Memberships, Revenue from the Reader Membership Revenue Pool will be allocated on the basis of the eligible Free purchases that the User makes during a 5-year period (the “Lifetime Reader Membership Allocation Period”), starting on the day of their first Reader Membership Payment. For the purposes of Reader Membership Revenue Pool allocation, a Lifetime Reader Membership functions like 5 consecutive annual Reader Memberships. The Reader Membership Revenue Pool revenue is divided into 5 equal portions, and one portion is allocated to each of the 5 year periods, to maximize fairness between authors. (It would be inappropriate to pay out all the Reader Membership Revenue Pool during the first year, but it would also be inappropriate to spread it out over a decade or more.) For example: if a reader purchases a Lifetime Reader Membership for $99, then $49.50 of this revenue is allocated to the Reader Membership Revenue Pool. This $49.50 is divided into five portions of $9.90 each, and a $9.90 portion is allocated once per year for five years. (The first portion is allocated at the end of the first 1-year period, the second portion is allocated at the end of the second 1-year period, etc.) Regardless of what the price of the Lifetime Reader Membership is, 50% of that revenue amount is what is allocated. So, if a Lifetime Reader Membership sells for $200, then $100 is allocated; if a Lifetime Reader Membership sells for $80, then $40 is allocated, etc.

When a User with a Reader Membership makes a free purchase of an eligible Product, part of their contribution to the Reader Membership Revenue Pool will be associated with the Product, based on a weighting of the Product’s Suggested Price at the time of Purchase, and all the other free Purchases of non-exempted Products the User makes during their Reader Membership Allocation Period.

The Suggested Price weighting calculation has an upper limit and a lower limit. The lowest Suggested Price weighting price used for the weighting calculation will be the minimum non-free price for that Product. The highest Suggested Price weighting price used for the weighting calculation will be $50.00. For example, this means that a Book with a Suggested Price of $0.00 will have the $7.99 weighting price applied to it, and a book with a Suggested Price of $100.00 will have the $50.00 weighting price applied to it.

When the Reader Membership Allocation Period ends, the allocated revenue will then be calculated for each eligible Product. That amount will then added to each eligible Product owner’s sum of unpaid earnings according the Royalty split for the Product at the time the relevant Product purchase was made. Those unpaid earnings will then be included in the next Royalty payout. Please see section 11.2.5 for more information on the timing of Royalty payouts.

No amount under one cent will be allocated to an eligible Product and its owners. This means that if a User purchases enough eligible Products during their Reader Membership Period, they may exhaust their Reader Membership Revenue Pool allocations, and any further eligible Free purchases that they make, will not result in the allocation of revenue to the Reader Membership Revenue Pool.

For the purposes of calculating the revenue allocation from the Reader Membership Revenue Pool, only one Free purchase per User counts towards the association of revenue with any Product. This means that even if a User purchases a Product for free more than once during a Reader Membership Period, or if they purchase the same eligible Product again during any subsequent Reader Membership Period, only their first purchase will count towards the allocation of revenue to the Product owner or owners.

Ruboss, at its sole discretion and without notification to the User, may choose to adjust the weighting based on a Product’s Suggested Price. Separately, if Ruboss determines that a Product’s Suggested Price has been inflated in order to unfairly manipulate the Membership Revenue Pool calculation for the Product, Ruboss may adjust the Suggested Price weighting for that Product. For example, if an Author were to set a Suggested Price of $1,000 for a Book that would under any ordinary estimation not merit a Suggested Price of $1,000, Ruboss may adjust the Suggested Price weighting.

11.2.8 Payment Attempt Failure

If our attempt to make a royalty attempt fails, the payment amount will be rolled-forward and applied to the next royalty payment.

If multiple royalty payment attempts to a User fail, we may suspend payment attempts to the User, without notification.

11.2.9 Withholding Royalties and Suspending Payments

At its sole discretion, Ruboss reserves the right to withhold royalties and suspend royalty payments to Users. Circumstances that warrant the withholding of royalties and/or the suspension of royalty payments to a User include legal action, matters related to law enforcement, and suspected violation of these Terms.

11.3 Deducting Platform Costs from Royalties

Users can opt in to deductions from their royalties by authorizing Leanpub to incur a cost or costs (the “Platform Cost” or “Platform Costs”).

Just as some publishing companies may subtract expenses (copy editing, indexing, typesetting, etc.) from an author’s royalties in advance, a User can choose to deduct Platform Costs (for example, one of our AI Services, or a Shelf Spot) from the calculation of their royalties.

If Leanpub has incurred Platform Costs at the request of the User, the User’s royalties are calculated by subtracting the Platform Costs.

The amount of Platform Costs that a User may request Leanpub to incur may be limited by the Royalty Hold Period or other constraints. For example, the amount of Platform Costs that a user may request Leanpub to incur, may exclude any associated revenue that is still subject to the Royalty Hold Period.

Platform Cost subtractions for Paid Placements (such as a Shelf Spot or multiple Shelf Spots) can not be reversed.

11.4 Chargebacks

Despite our generous refunds policy, sometimes customers use chargebacks. A chargeback is typically where a customer contacts their credit card company and disputes a charge made on their account.

Leanpub almost never contests chargeback claims, since this is a battle we almost always lose.

In the case that a purchase is later associated with a chargeback, the funds associated with the purchase are returned to the customer, and Leanpub deducts the related royalty payment from the calculation of royalties owing to the relevant User (the “Chargeback-Related Royalty Calculation Adjustment”).

In the case that a User has received a royalty payment related to a purchase that is later subject to a chargeback claim (the “Chargeback-Related Royalty Payment”), Leanpub reserves the right to deduct an amount equivalent to the Chargeback-Related Royalty Payment from the User’s future royalty payments (the “Chargeback-Related Royalty Deduction”).

Ruboss reserves the right to stop all further purchases from, and terminate, any Account associated with the abuse our Happiness Guarantee, including the use of chargebacks. See Section 14, “Terminating Membership and/or Removing Content”, for more details.

11.5 Payment For Services

A User wishing to write or publish a Product or Products on Leanpub may subject to a payment of a fee in order to do so (the “Product Creation Purchase” or “Product Creation Purchase”). This fee may take the form of a one-time payment, or it may take the form of multiple periodic payments, including monthly payments, as set out in Section 3, “Account Memberships”.

Each Product Creation Purchase is subject to our 60-day Happiness Guarantee.

Use of the Site or Services in association with a mobile device or a limited internet service is subject to the service provider’s normal rates and fees, such as internet or telephone provider data charges. Ruboss will not be held liable for any associated charges incurred by using our Send to Kindle feature or any other Service.

The basic use of the Leanpub Site and Services, excluding the purchase of non-free Products and Product Creation Purchases, is offered free of charge for all users. However, please note that use of the Site or Services in association with a mobile device or a limited internet service is subject to the service provider’s normal rates and fees, such as internet or telephone provider data charges. Ruboss will not be held liable for any associated charges incurred by using our Send to Kindle or any other Leanpub Service.

11.6 Optional Royalty Payment via Wire Transfer Arrangement

We will consider requests to receive royalty payments via wire transfer (the “Wire Transfer Arrangement”) on a case-by-case basis.

A User’s participation in a Wire Transfer Arrangement is at Leanpub’s discretion and may be discontinued at any time. We are bound to comply with all applicable regulations and some individuals may be excluded from entering into or continuing a Wire Transfer Arrangement. This may include the exclusion of Users from particular countries or in particular circumstances. This service may not be used to circumvent laws, regulations or obligations of any kind.

The following special conditions will apply to a Wire Transfer Arrangement:

• To cover transaction costs, administrative costs and any other costs to Ruboss associated with wire transfers, we will apply a fee of 5% plus $50 to each wire transfer. For example, if your pre-fee royalty payment is calculated to be $1,000, we will apply a 5% fee of $50 and the $50 fee, so the wire transfer amount will be $900.
• The User is responsible for paying any extra fees that are applied to the transaction on their end (for example, any extra fees applied for currency conversion by the receiving financial institution) and any other fees that are applied to them as a condition of receiving each wire transfer.
• We will make wire transfer payments to the User a maximum of once per quarter. These payments will be scheduled, and the schedule is subject to change at Leanpub’s sole discretion.
• The minimum pre-fee amount eligible for a wire transfer payment is $1,000. We will not send wire transfers for royalties payments that are lower than this minimum amount.
• To receive a royalty payment via wire transfer, the User’s Royalty Rate for all the User’s Leanpub Products (that is, all the Products from which they receive royalties) must be set to the 80% Royalty Rate. If a User’s Products are set to a different “grandfathered” Royalty Rate, the User must opt each Product in to the new 80% Royalty Rate.

12. Refunds

The Refund Policy can be found here. Accepting these Terms constitutes acceptance of the Refund Policy. We may update the Refund Policy from time to time, without notice. The User is responsible for ensuring they are up to date on the Refund Policy. We recommend that you check it regularly.

13. 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 all of your User Information on the Site current.

You will have the opportunity to select a username and password on the user registration form. You are solely responsible in all respects for a) all use of the Site made using your username and password, including monitoring the use of Minors accessing your account, and b) maintaining the confidentiality of your password. We encourage you to use a “strong” password (passwords that use a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols) for 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 email address, username or password, or of any other security breach regarding the Site or Services 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.

User registration and information is subject to the Leanpub Privacy Policy.

13.1 User Profile Policy

You are responsible for all information provided to, or posted on the Services. You must ensure that all information you provide in connection with your Leanpub account, such as your name, email address, photo, and other information, is accurate and up-to-date. You may maintain only one account at a time. If for any reason your account is disabled, you may not create another account without our permission.

Leanpub allows you to upload a photo of yourself to your profile to better identify yourself, find new friends and opportunities in the Leanpub system, and to help Authors create a brand around their work.

Users are not to misrepresent themselves, imitate others, or post photos that include a Minor or Minors. A User is not permitted to use as a profile photo a photo of a person who is not the User. Authors writing under a pseudonym, who do not wish to display their identities, may not upload a photo of another person, but may, for example, upload an image of an inanimate object, or a disguised image to represent themselves.

14. Terminating Membership and/or Removing Content

Ruboss, at its sole discretion and without notice, may terminate or suspend any Account, for any reason, without prior notice to any User. Typical reasons for terminating an Account include, but are not limited to, any potentially suspicious activity, such as money laundering, or credit card fraud, or carrying out any unauthorized transactions.

Under these Terms, Ruboss may terminate your Account, block your ability to purchase, create, or publish any Products, remove any associated Content, and refund any or all refundable purchases of Products associated with your Account (including purchases of any Product or Products associated with the Account), and permanently ban you from using the Services. Upon termination of your account, Ruboss has no obligation to provide a refund of any amounts paid to Ruboss and its subsidiaries, or of monies owed to the User (royalties or otherwise).

You may terminate your Account on the account information section of the Site, or by contacting hello@leanpub.com with a specific request to do so. Your request to terminate will become effective within 30 days after receipt of your 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 license rights such as the Permissions Agreement) shall survive termination.

After Content has been removed from Leanpub it will no longer be available for purchase or visible to Users who have not purchased it. It may still be available to Users who have purchased it. Furthermore, if any Content is removed from being for sale but has previously been sold (including free purchases), it may still be listed as Content having been produced by you in your Leanpub User profile or elsewhere on Leanpub.

Ruboss does not retain any residual rights to remove 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 or created using Leanpub remain applicable.

15. Primary Authors and Co-Authors

Terms regarding copyright holder status are stated in Section 8 of these terms, “Copyright, Creative Commons and Public Domain Policies”. This section regards the administrative status within Leanpub that may be assigned to Leanpub Users with respect to Products and Placements.

When a User creates a Leanpub Product or Placement, that customer is granted Primary Author status in relation to the Product or Placement (the “Primary Author”). The Primary Author has administrative authority with respect to the Product associated with the feature set provided by Leanpub to the Primary Author (the “Feature Set”), and may undertake any action Primary Authors are permitted by Leanpub to undertake in relation to the Product or Placement.

Exceptions to the rule that creating a Product makes a User a Primary Author may exist. For example, a University may assign an administrator to manage a Leanpub University account, under which teachers may be able to create Courses, but the status of Primary Author is granted to the administrator, not the teacher.

The Feature Set and permissions available to all Leanpub Users, including the Primary Author of a book, are subject to change at any time and at Leanpub’s sole discretion. The assignment of Primary Author status in no way represents a statement by Leanpub regarding the ownership of or copyright in relation to any Product or Placement or uploaded Conte, including any Extras, and any other rights, material or goodwill associated with the Product and its associated Content at any time or in any circumstances.

Primary Authorship can be transferred by Leanpub to another Leanpub User and/or to another Leanpub account at the request of the Primary Author. In this case, the Primary Author that requests the transfer becomes a Former Primary Author (a “Former Primary Author”) and Primary Author status will be revoked from the Former Primary Author. This does not exclude other reasons for Leanpub to transfer Primary Author status to another Leanpub User.

The Primary Author of a Product or Placement may at any time assign Co-Author status with respect to a Product to another Leanpub User or Users (the “Co-Author” or “Co-Authors”), if such status is available. Any assigned Co-Author will be granted Co-Author status upon approving the assignation of that status by using the feature or features provided by Leanpub for that purpose, or otherwise communicating to Leanpub their acceptance of the assignation of Co-Author status. The assignment of Co-Author status does not represent a statement, on the part of either Leanpub or the Primary Author, of any Co-Author’s ownership of or copyright in relation to any Leanpub Product, and any other rights, material or goodwill associated with a Product at any time or in any circumstances. At any time and without requiring any approval, confirmation, or any other kind of communication to, from or with any Co-Author or Co-Authors, the Primary Author of Product may revoke Co-Author status from any or all of a Product’s Co-Authors, and the Co-Author or Co-Authors whose Co-Author status has been revoked become Former Co-Authors (the “Former Co-Author” and “Former Co-Authors”). If royalties from a Product’s sales were being allocated to a Co-Author, after Co-Author status has been revoked from a customer, the Former Co-Author will no longer be allocated any new royalties associated with the Product.

The Primary Author may at their sole discretion, at any time or for any reason, request that Leanpub re-allocate the percentage of royalties from a Products sale owing to the Primary Author and any Co-Author or Co-Authors. This change is effective from the moment it is made, and does not apply to any royalties already owing the Primary Author, and any current or Former Co-Author or Co-Authors.

In the case that Leanpub is informed that there is a dispute about Co-Authorship of a Product, we reserve the right to remove the Product from Leanpub, remove access to the Product via Leanpub from the Primary Author and/or any current or Former Co-Author and/or Co-Authors, and from any User who at the time or previously held Primary Author status.

16. Organizations

The terms in this Terms of Service and the Leanpub Privacy Policy also all apply to Organizations.

Organizations are responsible for paying the authors and/or content creators, editors and any other person or organization with which they are associated. Ruboss is not liable for any discrepancies between Organizations and those with which they are associated regarding expectations concerning royalties or any other matter. Ruboss will only pay royalties in accordance with the royalty payment settings associated with the Leanpub Account to which royalties are owed in relation to the sale of any Product. Any division of royalties is beyond Ruboss’ control and responsibility.

Organizations are not eligible to receive pay discount rates for Product Creation Purchases.

17. Causes

Authors and Organizations are free to assign a royalty percentage to any Cause that has been approved as part of the Leanpub for Causes program that allows Authors and Organizations to share royalties with a Cause (“Leanpub for Causes”, or the “Leanpub for Causes Program”). However, this does not imply any endorsement on the part of the Cause of the Author and/or Organization or the associated Content or an actions or statements made by any party associated with the Content or its promotion or dissemination on Leanpub or elsewhere.

Royalties owed to Causes will be paid via PayPal using the PayPal email address associated with the Cause in the form used to register and maintain information about Causes (the “Cause Form”).

Any User with the ability to change the royalty percentage owing to a Cause in association with the sale of a Product may change the royalty percentage owing to a Cause at any time and for any reason. Such changes have no effect on royalties owing prior to the change in the royalty percentage owing to the Cause.

18. Universities

Ruboss may enter into contracts with universities in order to satisfy their unique institutional requirements. In such cases, we will display to Users who attempt to purchase a university’s course (including free purchases), relevant information regarding the use of Users’ Personal Information in order to fulfill the contract will be displayed. The purchase of a course associated with any such contract will be contingent upon the User’s acceptance of these terms.

19. International Users

Ruboss makes no representation that material on the Site or Services 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 required.

20. Partners and the Partner Program

Leanpub may arrange for companies or organizations (the “Partner” or “Partners”) to sell Leanpub books, bundles, courses and tracks via their own websites as part of our Partner Program.

All Leanpub books, bundles, courses and tracks are opted in to our Partner Program by default. However, the Primary Author can opt out of the Partner Program on the Pricing page for each Product.

The specific terms of our cooperation with any Partner will be determined by each individual Partner contract, and are not subject to public disclosure.

The Partner website may only update the Product details occasionally, for example once per month (the “Partner Update” or “Partner Updates”). This means there will be a period of time when the Partner website can sell a Leanpub Product with different details than those set on Leanpub itself. For example, the Partner may sell the Product at an outdated Suggested Price, if the Suggested Price for a Product has been changed on Leanpub since the latest Partner Update.

If a Product has multiple Packages for sale, the default Package will be the one selected for sale by the Partner. This selection is also subject to the timing of Partner Updates.

In order to sell Leanpub Products, Partners are permitted to display Product and Author information, such as the Author’s name, public Leanpub profile information, book title, cover image, profile image, avatar, etc. This use is not limited to their websites or apps; for example, Partneres are permitted to display Leanpub Products on their social media channels.

Partner sales of Leanpub Products are arranged via multiple-use free Coupons created by Leanpub, or via single-use Coupons created by an API. This means that customers buy the Product on Leanpub (using a free coupon), so they get updates to Products just like any other Leanpub sale.

Once per month, Leanpub will invoice the Partner for the sales which were made via the free Coupons, checking the number of Coupons used against the purchase records of the Partner via their website, and using the records of the Partner in the case of a discrepancy. With multiple-use Coupon codes, there is always the possibility of Coupon code sharing, and the Partner is not liable if a Coupon is overused, nor will an Author receive any compensation for Coupon overuse.

The ordinary Royalty Rate will apply to Partner Program purchases, just like with any normal Leanpub purchase.

21. 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 Site and 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, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, OR 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 Site or Service 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 Site or Services, or any Content. You also agree that Ruboss has no responsibility or liability for the deletion of, or the failure to store or transmit, any Content and other communications maintained by the Site or Services. We make no warranty that the Site or 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 Site or 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 Users.

22. 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 you accept sole responsibility for, and assume all risk arising from, your use of any such websites or resources.

23. Third-Party Websites, Software and Sites

The Site and Services may use plug-ins or direct you to websites, software or services owned or operated by third parties (“Third Party Properties”). We have not reviewed all of the Third Party Properties to which you may be directed and we have no control over such Third Party Properties. We have no control over and are not responsible for (a) the content and operation of such Third Party Properties, or (b) the privacy or other practices of such Third Party Properties. The fact that the Site directs you to such Third Party Properties does not indicate any approval or endorsement of any Third Party Properties. We direct you to such Third Party Properties only as a convenience. You are responsible for the costs associated with such Third Party Properties, including any applicable license fees and service charges. Accordingly, we strongly encourage you to become familiar with the terms of use and practices of any such Third Party Properties.

YOU AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THIRD PARTY WEBSITES AND RESOURCES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, YOUR USE OF ANY CONTENT, INFORMATION, DATA, ADVERTISING, PRODUCTS, OR OTHER MATERIALS ON OR AVAILABLE THROUGH SUCH WEBSITES AND RESOURCES, IS AT YOUR OWN RISK AND IS SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE APPLICABLE TO SUCH SITES AND RESOURCES.

24. Security

We take appropriate and reasonable technical, organizational, and procedural measures to protect Personal Information from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction, taking into account the risks involved in the processing and the nature of the Personal Information. If you have any questions about the security of your Personal Information, you may contact us at dpo@leanpub.com.

Leanpub accounts require a username or email and a password to log in. Members must keep their password secure, and never disclose it to a third party. Account passwords are hashed, which means we cannot see a User’s password. We do not send forgotten passwords. We will only provide Users with instructions on how to reset them.

25. 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 LICENSES 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 DAMAGES, 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 officials, 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 or Services 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 of knowledge or discovery of the cause of action.

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.

26. Indemnification

You shall indemnify and hold Ruboss harmless against all third party claims, demands, suits, actions, judgements, 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.

27. Exclusions

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the exclusion of limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages. Therefore, if the jurisdiction you are in does not allow it, then the limitations above may not apply to you. The limitations above do not apply where they contravene local law.

28. Waiver and Severability

The failure of Ruboss to enforce any rights or provisions 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 void, 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 that condition shall be deemed severable and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining condition.

29. Controlling Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms and any action relating 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 legal or equitable remedy from any court of competent jurisdiction.

30. 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 service for which you have a separate agreement with Ruboss that is explicitly in addition to 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 here. If the revision, in Ruboss’ sole discretion, is material to the user, Ruboss will attempt to notify you via email, 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.

If at any time you do not wish to be bound by the Terms, you must terminate your membership by contacting hello@leanpub.com see Section 14, Terminating Membership and/or Removing Content.

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

The Site and Services are operated and provided by Ruboss Technology Corporation.

Our address is:

Ruboss Technology Corporation
1321 Blanshard Street
Suite 301
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
V8W 0B6
604-265-0857

If you have any questions about these Terms, or the Privacy Policy, or the Copyright Take Down Policy, please contact us. The preferred method of contact is via email to hello@leanpub.com.